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At first when I saw Emlyn's post, I thought - gee - a day late and a
dollar short. But then I looked at what they were doing and realized
they were going about it all wrong. Here's a few problems with their
process:<br>
1.) Concrete construction = ugly<br>
2.) Usefulness is limited with concrete walls. People like to be able
to hang pictures, <br>
3.) Concrete sweats - creates moisture problems. <br>
4.) Flat roofs cause drainage and leakage problems.<br>
5.) They still need to deal with putting in windows and doors, door
frames, trim, and make sure they seal against the concrete which is a
nightmare. <br>
6.) Built on slab instead of crawlspace. <br>
7.) Difficult to remodel. <br>
8.) Stairways, basements, etc cannot be built. <br>
<br>
So how do we address these things and make this practical? I'm not
sure. I'm thinking that we would need several different "heads" or
"print cartridges" depending on the application. Foundations would be
concrete. Walls would need to be made of a yet-to-be-invented material.
Something strong, waterproof, easy to change later if you wanted to
remodel, yet soft enough to put a nail in to hang a picture. It would
need a very high R-rating as well. Some parts would have to be modular
- such as windows, doors, etc. But the right process would allow for a
snap-in process. Heads will need to be able to rotate sideways so one
could "print" basic walls, then pop in windows, then "print" the
exterior "finish". The reason is because the way siding and such
overlaps windows seams to ensure there are no leaks. Of course,
printing a window would be nice. But I'm not sure that can be done. I
already have some ideas how the electrical would be done. The main
areas to address I see are:<br>
1.) How do you manage to have something that can print as fine as
needed for light switches and hinges and still manage to do walls and
floors in a reasonable time. <br>
2.) What is the absolute fewest number of different materials necessary
to accomplish this.<br>
3.) How do you handle "printing" for things that are above open space?
(ie ceilings, floors over crawlspaces, doorways, etc. This will be
critical when designing hinges, switches, and other such things. <br>
How can each of the materials be made easy to work with?<br>
<br>
One thing that just came to mind is epoxy resin. Both are liquid while
apart, but mixed together they solidify. Maybe a similar process could
be used here. Mixing occurs at the nozzle and hardens as it is laid
down. Of course 15 minutes is too long. More like .25 seconds would be
ideal (as a guess).I'll have to put some real thought to it before I
post on the wiki so give me a few days. It would be great to come up
with the requirements and then build a miniature prototype hat makes
miniature houses. <br>
Are you familiar with the open source 3d printer?
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://fabathome.org/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page">http://fabathome.org/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Bryan Bishop wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:200803261833.43192.kanzure@gmail.com" type="cite">
<pre wrap="">On Wednesday 26 March 2008, Kevin Freels wrote:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">I have been working on a complete tear down and rebuild of my home
for several years and sometimes it just amazes me how archaic the
processes are and how much technology goes into them. I have
high-tech lithium-ion powered framing nailers, a laser sliding mitre
saw, and an insulation blower but still what I am resorting to is
sticking shaped trees together with metal pins and cramming stuffing
into the middle to hold in the warmth. Even worse is the need to
thread the entire structure with pipes and wires. As much fun as I
have with the framing nailer I can't help but to be a bit
disappointed in my fancy log cabin from time to time. I should be
able to design the thing on my computer and just print my new rooms
with a giant ink-jet; power and plumbing integrated just like an IC
chip.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->
Let's collaborate on the system specs:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://heybryan.org/mediawiki/index.php/Automated_shelter_fabrication">http://heybryan.org/mediawiki/index.php/Automated_shelter_fabrication</a>
- Bryan
________________________________________
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://heybryan.org/mediawiki/index.php/Roadmap">http://heybryan.org/mediawiki/index.php/Roadmap</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
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