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A Solar-Powered 3D Printer Prints Glass From Sand
Tx-0 writes in with a story in Colossal Art & Design. From the article: "Industrial designer and tinkerer Markus Kayser spent the better part of a year building and experimenting with two fantastic devices that harness the sun's power in some of the world's harshest climates. The first he calls a Sun Cutter, a low-tech light cutter that uses a large ball lens to focus the sun's rays onto a surface that's moved by a cam-guided system. ... Next, Kayser began to examine the process of 3D printing. Merging two of the deserts most abundant resources, nearly unlimited quantities of sand and sun, he created the Solar Sinter, a device that melts sand to create 3D objects out of glass."
But can it do sans serif?
So, cam-guided, as in cam-guided or CAM-guided? PLEASE, editors, do your jobs.
Just fainted
L'esperienza de questa dolce vita (The experience of this sweet life) - Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy
I am not that impressed, It is just a big controllable lens.
Time to offend someone
Set a bunch of these loose in the Sahara printing out solar panels.
But, can you use it to incinerate ants?
Why, without your clothes, you're naked, Miss Dudley!
I wonder how "portable" this sort of concept would be towards outpost construction on the Moon, Mars, etc.? It seems like it has the potential for saving mightily on transporting the "cement" used in other such printable hab concepts.
Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once
Cool usage of the sun. I wonder if he can build houses with that printer?
I've got a passing interest in glasswork, and one of the things I learned is that it's more complicated than "melt into mold, let it cool". Glass has to go through a carefully controlled cool-down period so that the molecular structure will set up properly. Otherwise, the resulting object is far more brittle than it should be. If not done properly you can have cracks form during the cooling phase, ruining the object.
Does the incremental deposition solve the annealing problem? Being able to make glass objects without having to carefully control the cool-down would be very nice.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Been doing this in Dwarf Fortress for a few years.
wow! that is awesome. I wonder if we can eradicate the desert by letting a swarm of those things loose
Chip fab from sand?
Yours In Science,
Kilgore Trout
I gotta get me one of those.
It's sintering, and it looks like you end up with lots of little pits and stuff in the finished work. It's also probably a glass-sand aggregate of sorts. They didn't show close-ups of the objects, or any attempt to "finish" them. They might be strong when finished, but not clear.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
I couldn't watch the video (slashdotted?) but the picture of the object he made looks like a proof-of-concept for solar sintering, not a finely-manufactured object that meets any kind of standard for quality.
Don't get me wrong, this is a really cool machine, but it's more "wow" value right now than something you'd want to buy.
I, for one, welcome our new self replicating, desert dwelling overlords.
I8-D
Because then I can finally download a car.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
Just need one block of coal, one block of sand and a furnace.
Congratulations. You earned it!
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
From the GP's sig.
What good is a police state if I cant rant online about it!
Was just riffing off of his sig, but it is a valid argument if you take it that way.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
Didn't I read about this two days ago on Engadget?
While all those Egyptians were protesting, this guy was tinkering. Sign of a true geek.
This is high tech.
Someone once explained to me the difference between low, medium, and high tech:
Low Tech: You can see how it works. Example: a mechanical wristwatch.
Medium Tech: You make the components so small, you can't see how it works. Example: a digital wristwatch.
High Tech: You make it out of the right stuff and in the right shape, and it Just Works. Example: a microwave waveguide.
I submit this also qualifies as high tech.
In Liberty, Rene
Original source is here: http://www.markuskayser.com/work/solarsinter/
...Merging two of the deserts most abundant resources, nearly unlimited quantities of sand and sun....
Because otherwise it's nowhere close to "unlimited".
Geeze, people... how hard is it to grasp the notion that infinity is... well... infinite.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
A huge amount of energy goes into producing concrete and bricks. In that region most structures are actually a form of mud brick adobe. A series of devices like this could make individual bricks or a robotic machine could follow a programmed path and layer by layer fuse a solid wall out of sand. The structures could last hundreds of years and need little maintenance where as mud brick buildings need constant repair. Allowing for tiny air pockets could add insulation value as well to the walls. It seems a more practical use since the fuses shapes are very rough so it's unlikely any commercial products could be made from them. Durable building materials that could be made for little cost other than the machine itself seems more practical.
So? If you wreck it, just print a new one. sheesh...
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Ball lenses are handy things, and can be dangerous in direct sunlight - especially larger ones.
For most materials, like glass, their focal lengths generally extend away from their surface a distance less than their radius, and approach the surface as the wavelength extends into the infrarad, which means if you carry an uncovered glass sphere around on the beach or in the desert, you will burn your hand or set fire to your glove.
I learned this secondhand one day, at a beach gathering of Tolkien society geeks. One of them had taken to carrying around a 4" glass sphere she had found somewhere, calling it her "palantir." As the sun rose, she yelped and threw the thing to the ground. "It burned me!" she cried.
I had many times coupled fibers using ball lenses so I knew immediately what had happened. But I said "You know what that means, don't you? Sauron is watching you."
She wouldn't touch the thing again.
Also, speaking of ball lenses... you can use your head as a ball lens to extend the range of your car's wireless entry key fob. If you find yourself just out of range of your keys, simply put the transmitter about an inch behind your head, directly *opposite* the car. Your head is mostly transparent to the RF, but has a slightly different index of refraction from air/vaccum, thus acts as a lens. And since your head is approximately spherical, it works well enough to make a practical convergent lens.
I can see the fnords!
Could this be useful on the moon?
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
What other materials could be melted for other applications?
Can the target spot be made smaller?
What type of drill(s) could be used to polish?
All in all, this is definitely a candidate for the "What's Cool for 2011" award.
or brad dourif?
Perhaps more practical than not-so-recent "walls of bacteria may stop desertification" idea, because it doesn't need water, only a bunch of fresnel lenses and cheap workforce to build houses, pipes, etc right in their own village!
People who live in the desert generally like to throw stones, and you know what they say about people who live in glass houses..
The pure brilliance and determination of human beings highlights the frustration of seeing human stupidity destroy people and the planet!
I suppose it illustrates the contradictory nature of our species. We suffer from the Jekyll and Hyde syndrome. When we are good we are great IE: space program,elimination of Polio but when we are bad we are horrific IE: Holocaust,Rwanda Genocide etc
We need to find a balance within ourselves otherwise we will continue to applaud our highs while on the flip side mourning our human inflicted tragedies again and again!
While reading the article I couldn't help but imagine the great mountains of sand in the deserts across the world. How come they don't make a machine that melts sand to create glass but then equips the glass with the necessary compenents for a solar panel? It could run off of petrol at first but then as it begins making the panels it could string them behind it as it moves to pick up more sand for the next one and eventually it will be running exclusively off of the solar panels. Just an idea. is this possible with current tech?
Cheat the moderation system - here's how they downmod others, and this is where countertrolling explains what he's doing while he trolls others (to his fellow trolltalk.com friends):
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2245866&cid=36491652
And, here's where countertrolling's "troll mechanics" for downmodding others is explained in detail by someone that got sick of it happening:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2271908&cid=36579618
As far as bogus up moderations, the trolltalk.com bunch (tomhudson, countertrolling, & others) collectively "team up" to upmod one another, in teams, as favors to one another.
(Talk about low, and bogus!)
OMFG, see the links!!
2011 - 3D printer prints glass from sand
2011 - robot innovations include self-balancing androids (video on youtube guy trying to push over bot, and it reacts to keep balance), drones, life-like androids (Danish man). etc etc
2020 - 3D printer prints most stuff, commercial applications. Self-balancing androids that look life like begin appearing in hospitals
2030 - 3D printers print anything. Androids look like us. Commercial fabrication plants print autonomously, one in particular owned by the military, daughter company called ... Skynet!!!!
Shiiit. I'll soon be a pensioner by 2030, and my chances of doing a Skynet survival course will be nill. Oh well, time to start trainging the boy at least so he can wander the wastes as a nomad for his remainging years.
"Everyone knows that vi vi vi is the number of the beast" -- Richard Stallman
Gonna be so nasty when the sand works its way into those gears...
The technology seems like it has potential for alot of things, creatively and industrially related, They may find more uses for it than just melting glass to create 3D objects.