Building printers
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Background
Ten years from now everyone will have hardware printers on their desks. If they want a doorknob for instance, they will shop the net for a design that they like and print the real thing right at their desk. (It takes time to imagine how the economy will function in a world where anyone can print a large variety of real functional hard goods.) HUG intends to use this trend in a big way. We believe it provides the opportunity to create highly ecological buildings with low embedded energy.
The average product that goes into a house goes through many stages before it gets there. First some raw materials come from he ground. They get harvested and transported to a mill where they are converted into a more refined form. Then they are usually transported to be shaped into some useful component. Then transported again to be assembled into a product. Then transported again to a wholesaler, and again to a retailer. Eventually your contractor buys it and transports it to your house where it gets installed. At each step, the price has to be marked up to pay for transportation, buildings, labor, taxes, insurance etc. The cost becomes enormous.
Imagine the potential cost savings if you could take raw dirt from your building site and convert it directly into most of the working parts of your new house. Imagine the reduction in ecological cost.
Printer overview
HUG intends to combine knowledge about ancient cob and modern hardware printing to create tools that will help us build sophisticated cob structures with minimum labor.
The printers will be divided into two main styles:
- Large structural printers
- Used for bulky structures that are under compression; walls, roofs, arches etc
- Smaller detail printers
- Used to make much tougher and more detailed pieces such as cabinets, doors, floor panels, appliances, etc.
A clay/sand/rock separator is needed for any cob job, whether it is manual or automated.
Time line
Spring 2007
- First working prototypes of clay/sand separator.
Fall 2007
- Hand assembled small test structure using clay/sand device and feeding/pressing tools
Spring 2008
- Printing some small parts. Testing toughness and finish qualities
Fall 2008
- First printed test structure
Spring 2009
- First large structure being printed
See also
An inspiration to make cob bricks into arches http://www.fincher.org/Misc/Pennies/
