The University of Maine unveiled the world’s largest 3D printer which could revolutionize the manufacturing industry.
What’s even better is that it beat its own record as the largest polymer 3D printer from 2019.
Dubbed the ‘Factory of the Future 1.0’ the printer can build an entire house in under 80 hours.
That’s a remarkable feat, isn’t it?
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UMaine’s previous printer from five years ago already broke several records by constructing a 600-foot house from recyclable materials.
Such printers are great for small objects, and major companies are using the tech to create products like this 3D-printed airless basketball.
And now, the FoF 3D printer is bigger and better, smashing all previous achievements of any 3D printer.
The university presented the giant printer to the US government at the Advanced Structures and Composites Center (ASCC).
As Maine requires a lot of homes, the government plans to use this latest piece of tech to create 3D-printed bio-homes.
While this is a groundbreaking achievement, some say they would still prefer ‘regular’ brick houses.
Moreover, the world’s largest 3D printer has a ton of fancy features too.
For instance, it can create objects as large as 96 feet long by 32 feet wide by 18 feet high.
It’s quite fast, too.
The world’s largest 3D printer can print up to 500 pounds of objects by the hour.
To put that into perspective, it could build an entire single-story house in no less than four days.
To be clear, building a ‘regular’ home takes a few months, to say the least.
While they may not be luxury prefab homes, the best part about creating bio-homes is that they’re sustainable and environment-friendly.
When you want to move away, you can deconstruct and recycle your home.
It’s certainly an adventurous way to live.
UMaine says that the FoF isn’t merely a large-scale 3D printer — it can automatically switch between different printing processes.
It’s essential to note that the printer isn’t limited to creating houses — it can do much more.
“UMaine and the Advanced Structures and Composites Center possess the innovation, capacity, and workforce to support the future needs of the Department of Defense in advanced manufacturing,” US Sen. Susan Collins said.
If everything goes according to plan, we could see 3D-printed military ships in the near future.
Since it takes a tremendous amount of time to build military ships, this could boost production lines significantly.
