Belgian company Kamp C recently finished construction on its first 3D-printed two-story house. The printing was done by a massive cement printer called the BOD2, made by a company called COBOD (Construction of Buildings on Demand).
The house itself was printed in just 15 days, spread out over the course of several months to accommodate the school schedules of the students who were working on the project.
Construction began in November 2019, when the printer was delivered to the construction site and assembled by crane. Human laborers helped set up, maintain and assist the printer. Once it’s up and running, the BOD2 is fully autonomous and only requires one person monitoring the process from a computer nearby.
Since its completion, the 3D-printed two-story house remains on location in Belgium alongside the printer that birthed it, for visitors to stop by and marvel at. Kamp C says in the future, its hoping to turn the building into an office space for people to rent, or perhaps someday, a place for people to live.
This two-story marvel joins other exciting developments in the emerging field of 3D-printing in construction, including the world’s first 3D-printed community, currently being built in a seismic zone in Mexico.
3D-printing has the potential to make construction more sustainable and housing more affordable, but the potential usefulness of this technology goes beyond construction. Kamp C says one of its partners is developing a new way to build swimming pools that incorporates 3D-printing, and COBOD has partnered with GE Renewable Energy to help 3D-print concrete bases for windmills, which GE says will lead to the construction of taller, more efficient wind turbines.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown how versatile 3D printers are and has highlighted an urgent need for expertise about them. Large corporations such as HP and Formlabs as well as indie 3D model makers have been using 3D printers to design and create PPE-like face shields, clips for masks (surgical and homemade) and even hands-free door handle add-ons to help in the fight against COVID-19.
I procured an XYXPrinting da Vinci Jr. 1.0 A Pro after several weeks of working from home without access to a 3D printer. Right away, I made a few fasteners for homemade cloth masks and then tackled some face shields.
My interest in 3D printing technology and 3D design started back in 2018, when I got pretty deep in the weeds, creating everything from phone stands to tabletop game accessories to a sweet mini Millennium Falcon. Since then, I’ve doubled down, getting into 3D scanning and even laser cutting, which lets you sculpt real-world designs from wood and leather.
Thanks to growth in the 3D printing industry, here are plenty of 3D printing options to choose from, so finding the best 3D printer that meets your needs and is within your price range can be tricky. That’s why we’re here to help. We’ve considered the pros and cons of each consumer 3D printer, along with printing speed, print quality, noise level, design, resolution, print volume and more. These creative tools, which range from affordable (under $300) to high end (over $3,000), are awesome 3D print gifts for a creative person in your life — or even better — they’re great for you to craft your own personalized 3D modeling designs.
Once you find the best 3D printer and you end up getting completely addicted to 3D printing, don’t blame me. (But if you do, here’s a handy 3D printing FAQ that should answer some of your questions).
Originally published at cnet