I made a comment abut 3D printing with concrete on Google+ and a response post linked to this:
http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/21/2811146/3d-printing-d-shape-monolite-enrico-dini An article about a guy developing a building printer, similar to the other one mentioned here, but this one uses sand plus an inorganic, two-part, non-epoxy binder. (So if it isn't epoxy, then what is it? No real details on the binder. I guess that's the "secret sauce.") The demo structures seem to be more free-form - including domes - though also not very smoothly finished. I suppose easily fixed with some stucco or shotcrete. If I understand the description of how it works correctly, it works more like traditional stereo lithography systems where you start with a layer of powder (sand), then do something to the portion you want to keep to solidify it, then discard the excess powder. ("The surplus sand that doesn't get printed acts to buttress the structure, and can be reused for the next print.") This probably explains why the process can create domes and other spanning structures. The article also mentions there is a documentary in the works on the inventors life. -Tom _______________________________________________ Hardwarehacking mailing list [email protected] http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/hardwarehacking
