http://www.gizmag.com/china-winsun-3d-pr...

Chinese company uses 3D printing to build 10 houses in a day

By Loz Blain

April 23, 2014
19 Comments
3 Pictures
Small home constructed from 3D-printed building blocks (Image: Winsun New Materials)

Small home constructed from 3D-printed building blocks (Image: Winsun New Materials)
Image Gallery (3 images)

This small home may look plain, but it represents a significant achievement in rapid construction. A Chinese company has demonstrated the capabilities of its giant 3D printer by rapidly constructing 10 houses in less than 24 hours. Built from predominantly recycled materials, these homes cost less than US$5,000 and could be rolled out en masse to ease housing crises in developing countries.

If you’ve been to a major city in China recently, you’ll have noticed a theme. Construction is absolutely rampant, with skyscraper after skyscraper going up as cities scramble to deal with a massive population that’s urbanizing at an unprecedented rate.

Outside the major urban centers, there’s still a vast need for quick, cheap housing, and Suzhou-based construction materials firm Winsun has stepped forward with a very impressive demonstration of rapid construction by using 3D printing techniques to build 10 small houses in 24 hours using predominantly recycled materials.

Rather than printing the homes in one go, Winsun’s 3D printer creates building blocks by layering up a cement/glass mix in structural patterns (watch the process here). The diagonally reinforced print pattern leaves plenty of air gaps to act as insulation. These blocks are printed in a central factory and rapidly assembled on site.
Small home constructed from 3D-printed building blocks (Image: Winsun New Materials)

The printer is 6.6 m (22 ft) tall, 10 m (33 ft) wide and 32 m (105 ft) long. Its print head looks somewhat like a baker’s piping gun as it lays out the building mix.

Each small house takes very little labor to assemble, and costs as little as US$4,800. Winsun hopes to make them available for low income housing projects.

Source: Winsun via Wall Street Journal

Yeah, somehow MSNBC missed that story...

That's right. Previously, Freon w/ or w/o water was used as a "blowing agent" that made a very uniform cellular wall in the urethane foam. Then the EPA got involved and made the Freon illegal. Very uniform and strong cellular walls became obsolete and weak foam became the norm. Goodbye Columbia.

The Columbia shuttle burned up because of the damage due to a disintegrated foam insulation. That insulation was made for many years. Then, a new "environmentally friendly" process was introduced...

If you take the I94 and I43/Hy 29 corridors from Milwaukee through the twin cities.....over 1000 sets of "lost" wheels per year. Most of these are maintenance related. Still, In a mature "industry" this is pretty high. I ask myself regularly if I would "drive" on the repairs I've just made. I'm asking similar question of these new buildings; Would I be willing to use / live in one? Under what conditions or assurances?
When I have made metalurgical or drastic process changes in my repairables....I destructive test ......I sleep very well at night.

Been planning to build a dome from AI Domes in FL. They use a similar process for their components. Combines the benefits of ICF with strength and wind resistance of domes.
See:
http://www.aidomes.com
I would think that 3d printing would make production of ICF panels more efficient and possibly cheaper.

The president and provost of my university went to China a couple of years ago trying to establish university partnerships. They came to the same conclusion. The Chinese society is freer now than the US! Hard to imagine, but I have heard it from multiple sources.

It reminded me of Levittown, too!

+1 point for any reference to Captain Jean-Luc Picard!

Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.

Hahaha! No worries. :-)

If the reports could be trusted, the first Chinese satellite launch failed because of a bad weld. They have made amazing progress and their current space technology seems to work well. They learn fast and constantly improve. China has now surpassed the US in GDP and will soon surpass in the standard of living. Overall, a Chinese citizen is freer than an American and far more educated and productive. No doubt in my mind that the future belongs to China.

Maybe the developers will honor big "O" with the first one stateside. Love to see the look on Michelle's face..

These don't look like "houses" to me, more like storage sheds, workshops, garages. They're on a slab, evidently. Is there water? Electricity? Air circulation? Sewer or septic? Heating? Insulation? Kitchen? What about floor covering? Will the concrete degrade and leave gray dust everywhere? (I'm thinking about my garage floor and basement floor.) Or is painting/sealing everything another stage? I'd want more information before moving into one of these "printed" houses.

With a little laser interferometry and a couple of servos .... a "placer" could be converted for field ops. I don't trust the optic guidance I've seen so far....terrible experience with a customers automated work cell. I calculated building three loaders for the price of their inoperable robot.

Your comment did not reflect anything of the sort. Mine may be misconstrued....depends on the "receiver".

Agreed on the importance of an item. My samplings were from 2004 to 2010. Interesting regarding timing of the quality.....Olympics.

Wow, clearly a great choice, considering the type of weather you get in your neck of the woods. It's a really amazing thing to watch a house go up from start to finish, especially such an interesting one.

To add my two cents, I think it depends on the importance of the item being made. At the time when much of Chinese consumer industry was crap, they produced weapons of fantastic quality. I have several early SKS' (military versions) and others and the machining, fit, finish and accuracy are superb.

I think that the techniques and materials will be refined for stability and durability. What is noteworthy is that a Chinese company is premiering this, not a US company - we are now following, not leading. I like this tech because it counters the EPA desire to pack everyone into high density apartment buildings. This makes it easier for an individual to buy land and then have a building printed out to go on that land - less expensively than conventional building. 3D printing of single family homes and self-driving cars will let people live further away from cities and encourage an independent lifestyle.

Jan