Over the course of its nearly 30-year lifetime, additive manufacturing has been used to create a massive array of objects. Though while the technology has had a number of different applications, its ability to produce objects on a massive scale has only just begun.
In an effort to push the envelope of 3D printing’s scale, Slovenian startup BetAbram claims it will be ready to ship three scaffolding-based printer models by the end of this summer, each capable of building houses.
Starting with a 3×4-meter model, Abram’s printers grow to a medium 6×12-meter frame and an enormous 9×16-meter frame in the largest incarnation. Though each model begins with a 2-meter height limit, the designers say the printer can be configured to build much larger structures.
In order to build their structures BetAbram’s machines use what appears to be a liquid concrete material. As in all other deposition AM processes, a structure emerges as successive layers of concrete are built one atop another. Although the process for building concrete AM structures seems fairly straightforward, BetAbram has yet to detail the curing time required before successive layers can be built and whether their machines can build geometries beyond rectangles.
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