University of Johannesburg engineers develop 3D printing technique for RDP houses

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Watch UJ engineers 3D print a house in a day

Researchers from the University of Johannesburg have developed a 3D printing technique to build government-funded houses in a day.

The UJ school of civil engineering and the built environment is working on a pilot project for the national science and innovation department to investigate the possible use of 3D printing for constructing RDP houses for impoverished households.
 
How does it look when it's finished off? Plastered, painted, roof, etc? For now it looks fuggly.
 
What are the tendeunities for this tech?
If nothing then this tech is dead in the water
 
University develops a groundbreaking way to build houses, MyBB moans about how government will screw it up.

There are so many opportunities for this in both the public and private sector...but sure let's moan (for the 1000th time) about government.

In the US, there is a machine called a Vulcan, which caught my attention about a year back. The machine was about R1m, but the biggest drawback was that you would have to use their cement, so it would need to be imported. Im glad we can potentially do this locally.
 
F1 Fan said:
University develops a groundbreaking way to build houses, MyBB moans about how government will screw it up.

There are so many opportunities for this in both the public and private sector...but sure let's moan (for the 1000th time) about government.

In the US, there is a machine called a Vulcan, which caught my attention about a year back. The machine was about R1m, but the biggest drawback was that you would have to use their cement, so it would need to be imported. Im glad we can potentially do this locally.
Click to expand...
This article a little misleading. University researched on feasibility, they have not develop any new 3d technology, those technology already existed! All they doing is using existing 3D printing technology and selling it. More marketing then research.

To be fair most of the researchers are mostly marketers :D.
 
Dark Agent said:
This article a little misleading. University researched on feasibility, they have not develop any new 3d technology, those technology already existed! All they doing is using existing 3D printing technology and selling it. More marketing then research.
Click to expand...

Very misleading then...the key will be innovating on the materials used..no issue with importing the machinery...
 
F1 Fan said:
Very misleading then...the key will be innovating on the materials used..no issue with importing the machinery...
Click to expand...
Yes, people reading this article have an assumption that UJ did something new. They did nothing but just a marketing stunt.
 
KleinBoontjie said:
How does it look when it's finished off? Plastered, painted, roof, etc? For now it looks fuggly.
Click to expand...
So does a house with rough plaster on it.

They've just demonstrated how they can print the house for now. The rest comes later I guess.
 
The best materials to build low cost housing from are materials you can get from the local area. 3D printed housing for low cost housing suffer from severe scaling issues.
 
3d printed houses always good proof of concept but not so great in practice, China's 1 day sky scrapers are much better technology and could be used for ground level buildings easily but there is not enough cadre profit.
 
Here we go again…print the house. Forget about all the gaps in the walls. No doors. No windows. No electricals or plumbing. Oh and the roof is missing too.

Also the materials are somewhat pricier than bricks and mortar and labour. Plus you have to move the delicate 3D printer into place each time.

I don’t know. It reminds me of one of those vaporware Kickstarters…
 
This article is the typical tech-circle-jerk. Gov minister so proud to be seen as all 'techy' and forward-thinking. This is typical university mentality: get students to waste their time while being led by the blind. On so many levels this 3D printed house concept is just that, a concept. In reality, it's a shoddy idea because of the complexity of the process, the materials and the fact that outdoors has the elements. Besides this, it's just not economically feasible. Number 1 reason: how many machines do you need to put up 100 houses a day? Compare this to a dedicated factory line (much like a car plant) where one can easily put out thousands of parts, day and night.
The real solution is modular housing, with prefabricated parts, that can be assembled easily on-site, by semi-skilled contractors (this, dear sweet 'government', is called JOBS). These pre-fabricated walls and other components can be offset by using recycled materials, and utilizing various molding techs and machine fabrication processes.
 
Its not governments job to supply people with houses..
 
All these 3D printed houses don't address the real cost of building a home. The brick and mortar costs are minor compared to plumbing, wiring, insulation, roofing etc. etc. Even nonsense like container homes are a money pit because of all the extra work needed to make it suitable for living in.
 
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Wait a minute
There was news recently about government not building RDP housing anymore,they would give land and facilitate construction. This is bad timing :laugh:
 
What is the Printing time on a house? Squatters can erect in 25 minutes including furnishings.
 
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