3D printing 3D printing
3D printing 3D printing The Dutch company DUS Architects from Amsterdam have developed a 3D printer that is ten times as big as a conventional 3D printer. The giant printer is called the KamerMaker (the Room Builder). It is integrated in a 20-foot shipping container, oriented vertically upright. The purpose of this machine is to print a complete house from a bioplastics material. Originating from Amsterdam it proposes printing a typical Amsterdam canal house. “Different partners from a diverse range of industries work together on this project, and we learn together by doing,” says Hans Vermeulen of DUS architects, initiator of the project. The premium partners invest in the project by contributing knowledge and materials. The bioplastics material that the company is currently using is called Macromelt, a type of industrial glue (Hotmelt) developed by Henkel. It is made of 80% vegetable (rapeseed) oil. It melts at 170 degrees Celsius. The aim is to print with a material that is sustainable, of biological origin, melts at a relatively low temperature, and of course is sturdy and stable. In addition, the material is recyclable, so if a fabricated piece is slightly out of spec, it can be ground up and reused. The Kamermaker needs about a week to print one of the huge, unique, honeycomb-structured blocks that can be assembled together rather like Lego bricks. The parts are later filled with a so-called eco-concrete. The concrete casting has a twofold function; firstly to increase the compressive 30 bioplastics magazine [06/14] Vol. 9
of a real house Think Sustainable We are still there for you! As of October 2014, the Metabolix GmbH team in Cologne is part of the Feddersen Group. As an AKRO-PLASTIC GmbH branch, we are operating under the name BIO-FED with immediate effect. Nothing – other than the name – will change for our customers! The team you are familiar with at the Cologne location will still be there to assist and advise you, and will also be happy to continue supplying you with our “mvera” product portfolio. structural capacities of the printed pieces, secondly it will also act as a connecting material to join separate pieces together. The concrete mix includes lightweight aggregates in an attempt to keep the weight and material consumption to a minimum. The first block, which forms one corner of the house and part of a stairway, weighed around 180 kilograms (without the concrete). “The 3D Print Canal House is a unique project because it is a building site, a museum and a research facility in one,” says Hans Vermeulen. “By 3D printing the first building block we celebrate the start of researching the possibilities of digital fabrication for the building industry.” The research project will take three years. Hedwig Heinsman of DUS: “We hope that in three years time the excitement of the visitors is still as fresh as today, and that the house has developed into a mature 3D printed building with different rooms, each with different constructions and material properties that all tell something about the time that they were printed. And (we hope) that the 3D Print Canal House becomes a permanent place for pioneering activities in design and architecture.” MT www.3dprintcanalhouse.com www.dusarchitects.com www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAoW1iA385w BIO-FED Branch of AKRO-PLASTIC GmbH BioCampus Cologne · Nattermannallee 1 50829 Cologne · Germany Phone: +49 221 88 8894-00 Fax: +49 221 88 88 94-99 info@bio-fed.com www.bio-fed.com bioplastics MAGAZINE [05/14] Vol. 9 31
