epic engineering ftw

[solarbird]

This is awesome. It's a cementjet printer for printing houses. YES YOU HEARD ME.

Comments

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

Just the phrase... a cementjet printer for printing houses... makes me want to jump up and down with glee that we live in such a world.

[sistawendy.livejournal.com]

This looks like a Really Good Idea, as long as you're either a) outside anywhere seismically active, or b) somehow reinforcing the concrete as you go.

[westrider.livejournal.com]

Teh Futare Is Now!

[hubbit.livejournal.com]

So what kind of mess is made when the concrete jets have to be cleaned?


BTW, Thomas Edison would have loved this. He was a big investor in Portland Cement after his work on the incandescent lamp; he spent (and ultimately lost) lots of time and money trying to develop the art of molding and pouring an entire house out of concrete.

[solarbird]

As long as you get to it reasonably quickly, it's actually no big deal. It's like cleaning concrete pumps - all you need is water.

I didn't know that part about Edison. That's neat.

[hubbit.livejournal.com]

Nice article, including pictures of prototypes and an actual house set up for pouring, here. (http://flyingmoose.org/truthfic/edison.htm) Apparently at least one of these houses survives, but not in the best of shape.

[waywind.livejournal.com]

Sweet!

I would want to abuse the cementjet technology and make it print things for which it was not intended, such as life-size cement statues based on 3D models from video games.

[solarbird]

I'm FOR it!

[rmd.livejournal.com]

that's pretty cool. not as tasty as the candyfab sugar printer, but hey, the massive scale makes up for it.

[epawtows.livejournal.com]

Can we make another concretehenge? (http://www.legendsofamerica.com/WA-Stonehenge.html)

[solarbird]

I certainly hope so.

[ravyngyngvar.livejournal.com]

What would happen if you input an M.C. Escher picture, like the staircase or the waterfall?

[solarbird]

Tower of Babel, div zero error, and civilisation implodes, in that order. They check for that, but it's only a matter of time.

[backrubbear.livejournal.com]

Awesome indeed. Welcome to the future. :-)