There is now an open-source design for a 3DCP printer.
3DCP is concrete extrusion at scales to create buildings or other large structures. Typically, it’s used these days to print the foundation, walls, and floors of smaller buildings. Residencies, offices, and even churches have been made using 3DCP.
Up until now, all of these 3DCP systems were commercial, as far as I know. If you were a construction company wanting to get into the 3DCP market, you’d have to purchase or make a deal with one of the 3DCP equipment manufacturers.
Now there could be another option with the release of an open-source design for a 3DCP device. In a LinkedIn announcement, Associate Professor of Architecture at Iowa State University, Shelby Elizabeth Doyle, said:
“We’ve open-sourced our “ISU $50k 3D Concrete Printer” set-up and integration of hardware / software / material. Hope this helps anyone out there working to scale up printing with cementitious and paste-based materials.”
Doyle believes the configuration would cost around US$50,000 to implement. This is dramatically lower than the price of some commercial 3DCP systems, just what you’d expect to see with an open-source option.
However, also like other open-source alternatives, you’re on the hook for everything. That said, this system seems to work, given the numerous images of structures built with the system on Doyle’s site.
How important is this? Long-term readers may recall way back in 2007 when the only 3D printers available were quite expensive, from commercial providers. Then a patent expired, and suddenly we had desktop 3D printers appearing, built by company after company on that same 3D print process. That single event cascaded through the years to today, where we now see extremely powerful desktop systems available at very low cost.
Perhaps the same story will be told in the 3DCP world. Thank you, Shelby Elizabeth Doyle and team!
Via Shelby Elizabeth Doyle and LinkedIn
