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Japanese railway shelter replaced in less than 6 hours by 3D-printed model (arstechnica.com)

submitted 5 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Hatsushima is not a particularly busy station, relative to Japanese rail commuting as a whole. It serves a town (Arida) of about 25,000, known for mandarin oranges and scabbardfish, that is shrinking in population, like most of Japan. Its station sees between one to three trains per hour at its stop, helping about 530 riders find their way. Its wooden station was due for replacement, and the replacement could be smaller.

The replacement, it turned out, could also be a trial for industrial-scale 3D-printing of custom rail shelters. Serendix, a construction firm that previously 3D-printed 538-square-foot homes for about $38,000, built a shelter for Hatsushima in about seven days, as shown at The New York Times. The fabricated shelter was shipped in four parts by rail, then pieced together in a span that the site Futurism says is "just under three hours," but which the Times, seemingly present at the scene, pegs at six. It was in place by the first train's arrival at 5:45 am.

Love the kicker of "Concrete Examples." chef's kiss

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago (11 children)

Personally I'm more interested in foam printing, which allows large scale plastic printing of insulated structures. For single story bungalows that should be just fine and transport of the building materials easy. Something like (recycled) PET foam printing should be possible. The printer would be more lightweight than concrete printing too. You could 3D print a clean circumference with PET filament first and then fill in with PET foam. Or you could have tool changing and mill down the irregular foam. And you can recycle the whole 3D print later too.

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