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On the Ground with COBOD Construction 3D Printing at Ohio State https://ift.tt/eya0fTc This winter, The Ohio State University’s Center for Design and Manufacturing Excellence (CDME), which is one of the country’s largest additive research groups, received a COBOD BOD2 3D construction printer from Pantheon Innovative Builders as part of a multidisciplinary research cooperation. I recently had the chance to see it in action, as the CDME hosted a Construction 3D Printing Open House on campus. Nearly 300 people came to see the massive system in a former horse arena at OSU’s Plumb Hall. It was impressive for a number of reasons, starting with the fact that I’ve only ever seen a concrete construction printer setup like that outside, and it was smaller than the BOD2.
Construction 3D Printing for Workforce DevelopmentDiMarco, who has worked at OSU for two-and-half years, is leading the charge on this project. Before the demonstration got started, he introduced the rest of the collaborative team, starting with CDME Executive Director Nate Ames, who explained that the CDME is an applied research center to support faculty members with their fundamental research needs, as well as “the entire community of Ohio.”
As a lack of workforce development is often listed as an issue by many in the AM industry, this seems like a great model. Ames said that the CDME is “tech-agnostic,” with a staff as diverse as the undergrads it employs. According to its website, the CDME’s is to enhance America’s manufacturing competitiveness, and the center works with everything from AI, automation, and machining to molding and forming, cybersecurity, and, of course, 3D printing. Tackling Concrete’s Carbon FootprintDr. Lisa Burris, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at OSU, shared some of her immense knowledge of concrete with us, and how it’s led to a “critical challenge in our nation and the world.”
She explained that, in the U.S., there are many old structures we can’t afford to replace, and said that “long-lasting infrastructure” is needed in this country, which is where additive construction could come in, just as we noted in an article on the Biden Administration’s initial infrastructure plans.
Affordable Housing, Automation, and MoreRyan Kelly, the CEO and Founder of Pantheon 3D, explained that the company is interested in affordable housing, but also “wanted to give young people a way to get into the trades,” so it’s definitely a good partner for this endeavor. It was clear that the whole team is passionate about teaching, while also trying to holistically fix the pain points in the construction industry.
Vincent Albanese, COBOD’s North American Manager of Strategic Partnerships, explained that the automation used in additive construction enables consistency, quality, and speed, noting a recent project in Saudi Arabia that the company was able to complete in two months; it would’ve taken seven months using traditional manufacturing methods. Albanese said that Ohio was chosen for this project because “we know it’s the center of manufacturing, specifically additive manufacturing. We knew Ohio was the key.” I agree with his statement 100%. FAQs about Construction 3D PrintingWhile Pantheon 3D was busy setting up the BOD2, DiMarco and the rest of the team fielded audience questions. Some were more on the logistics side, such as how long it takes to set the printer up; the answer to that one was 6-8 hours, by a trained team. Someone else wanted to know the cost of building a four-person home, and Kelly said emphatically that if anyone gives you an actual number right now, they are lying, though he did estimate that it could be 40% less than traditional construction.
When asked what kind of maintenance was involved with a 3D printed home, Dr. Burris said that, with concrete rather than the typical timber, the home will be “a lot less prone to durability issues, in terms of mold especially.” Someone else wanted to know about IP with the material, and Albanese said the good thing about the BOD2 is that it can use any material a customer wants. “We have an an open source batch plant, so you can develop your own mixtures,” he explained. Initially, the team is using a proprietary mix by Quikrete, but they’re also discussing other non-proprietary formulations in order to get something as close to a ready-mix as possible. A lot of components go into the mix, which has to be flowable and able to set up in a specific amount of time as the layers build up. Another person wanted to know if they worked with waste, and Dr. Burris said that they are working with materials like corn oil. “The long-term future is to use locally sourced materials to make your own mix — sand, aggregate, things like that — and there’s research going on around the world to use other materials such as fly ash, hempcrete or local clay,” DiMarco noted. Here’s a list of some of the other questions asked, and the responses:
DiMarco did a great job explaining to everyone what was happening on the floor, offering plenty of process updates in between audience questions. He warned us at the very beginning that the print demonstration could fail, and then continued explaining to the crowd what was going on. The printer uses G-code, and an operator uses a laptop to control the system. DiMarco explained that the loud whirring we could all hear was the pump, and that various team members were checking the viscosity of the mixture and making sure the mortar mix was consistently making its way down the pump. Once they determined that the material had good viscosity and was flowing normally, they were ready to start printing. To keep the material from drying out, the interior of the hose has to be fully coated.
After the third layer, the team added flaps on the side of the layer lines to smooth everything out, “almost like icing on a cake,” as DiMarco described. Flaps can’t be put on the first two layers because they will “run into the ground.” By the time they got to the fifth layer, the material was getting too runny, so the team had to stop and work on the mixture. A number of factors could have caused this issue, including flow rate and water temperature. Then, they had to flush the pump with water and purge the material, and ultimately clean out the nozzle.
Obviously, this wasn’t the outcome the team had hoped to achieve, but it was still a very impressive and educational demonstration. 3D printed homes are coming, whether we’re ready or not. The post On the Ground with COBOD Construction 3D Printing at Ohio State appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing. Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://ift.tt/hl7MaBb May 15, 2023 at 07:38AM
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