Materials. 3D printer could build moon bases. (PhysOrg.com) -- An Italian inventor, Enrico Dini, chairman of the company Monolite UK Ltd, has developed a huge three-dimensional printer called D-Shape that can print entire buildings out of sand and an inorganic binder. The printer works by spraying a thin layer of sand followed by a layer of magnesium-based binder from hundreds of nozzles on its underside. The glue turns the sand to solid stone, which is built up layer by layer from the bottom up to form a sculpture, or a sandstone building.
The D-shape printer can create a building four times faster than it could be built by conventional means, and reduces the cost to half or less. There is little waste, which is better for the environment, and it can easily “print” curved structures that are difficult and expensive to build by other means. Dini is proving the technology by creating a nine cubic meter pavilion for a roundabout in the town of Pontedera. This video is not supported by your browser at this time. Huge 3D Printer Makes Buildings Out of Sand. We've seen 3D printers before, but none quite this ambitious. Italian inventor Enrico Dini's D-Shape is on a scale large enough to print entire buildings out of simple components: sand and an inorganic magnesium-base binding material.The three-dimensional printing apparatus has hundreds of nozzles on its underside, which spray the inorganic binding glue that turns the sand into solid stone and builds up objects in layers from the bottom up.
D-Shape can generate a building about four times as fast as the traditional construction method at only half the cost — or less. Less waste left behind also makes the 3D printing process environmentally friendlier than conventional alternatives. Interestingly, D-Shape's next challenge might be building moon bases. Its inventor is currently in talks with the European Space Agency about creating a version of the device that could use lunar dust to build structures on the surface of our nearest celestial neighbor. D-Shape in Action [via Kurzweil.net] Welcome to D-Shape. Easy-to-Use 3D Printers - European Market is the First to Get th. 3D Office Copiers - ZPrinter 350 is the Closest Thing We Have to.