engadget.com

 

Where would we be without the world's graduate art projects? In the case of Markus Kayser's Solar Sinter, we might never have seen the day when a solar-powered 3D printer would turn Saharan sand into a perfectly suitable glass bowl. Well, lucky for us (we suppose) we live in a world overflowing with MA students, and awash in their often confusing, sometimes inspiring projects. Solar Sinter, now on display at the Royal College of Art, falls into the latter category, taking the Earth's natural elements, and turning them into functioning pieces of a burgeoning technology. Solar Sinter uses the sun's rays in place of a laser and sand in place of resin, in a process that is perhaps more visually stunning than the results. See for yourself in the video after the break.

The printer is not perfected, but a bit engineering and it can IMO make things with more accuracy.

 

People might start building glass houses in deserts, for almost nothing...the cost of a 3D printer and labor. The printer can make glass bricks, and someone can stack them to make the walls of a house. The bricks could be made to form a dome or half cylinder roof instead of using long beams and flat or sloped roof. Interlocking bricks could eliminate the need for mortar, yet keep air tight joints between bricks. It would be possible to print double or triple pane windows.

 

Glass houses would be best in areas where there are no rocks.

I would describe him more as a renaissance man than an art student - great stuff and a real cross-over. Have you seen his other solar work ?

 

http://www.markuskayser.com/work/sun-cutter/

The printer is not perfected, but a bit engineering and it can IMO make things with more accuracy.

 

People might start building glass houses in deserts, for almost nothing...the cost of a 3D printer and labor. The printer can make glass bricks, and someone can stack them to make the walls of a house. The bricks could be made to form a dome or half cylinder roof instead of using long beams and flat or sloped roof. Interlocking bricks could eliminate the need for mortar, yet keep air tight joints between bricks. It would be possible to print double or triple pane windows.

 

Glass houses would be best in areas where there are no rocks.

So, if I understand this thing correctly, the machine uses layers of sand. It heats up the part of each layer to then combine the layers together to make the glass object. Interesting.