The largest simultaneous 3D print was successfully undertaken by students and staff at LeTourneau University in Longview Texas.
Local TV outlet KLTV reports on the attempt, which involved setting up no less than 102 3D printers, driven by 102 computers and supervised by 102 operators. All in the same room (which appears to be the school’s gymnasium). The attempt broke the prior record of thirty-nine. Evidently six 3D printers were non-functional that day and thus the record will be 102, not 108.
The interesting aspect is that all of the printers were apparently student-constructed. In fact, some of the 3D printers were used to spawn parts for others.
While this is a stunt, it could also demonstrate a powerful capability: onsite manufacturing. Most readers will know that 3D printing is still abysmally slow. But in the case where you need multiple objects, multiple 3D printers could dramatically speed up the making process.
Imagine then, a school with 100 3D printers at its disposal. Thousands of objects could be churned out each day to address the needs of the institution. It’s a bit like crowdsourcing, except the crowd is all inside the gym.
Via KLTV