World’s biggest 3D printer whirs into action

Large 3D printers, such as that unveiled in Maine, are more like to be used to make parts of houses rather than full homes, says Dr Eujin Pei, who is an expert in additive manufacturing at Brunel University.

He says they can be used for historical restoration, “not to print a house, but sometimes to print decorative parts, or sometimes to restore some parts.”

They may become useful after natural disasters to manufacture parts of destroyed buildings, he told the BBC.

Maine University says it hopes the printer can be used to make affordable housing, as well as bridges, boats and wind turbines.

It can print up to 500lbs (227kg) of material per hour.

While 3D printers often print using plastic, the university hopes to include more sustainable materials and prioritise recycled polymers.

Maine is also home to large forests – and the hope is to use residual wood from sawmills as material to feed into the printer.

“The downside is that those kind of materials are not so durable,” says Dr Pei.

Wood is “not so robust, but it’s more environmentally friendly,” he says.

The 3D printing process saves on time and waste by only using the materials needed, but there are still some environmental impacts.

“Sometimes the materials being used are not fully being able to be recycled because of contamination” in the production process, Dr Pei adds.

However, as products are designed on a computer first, their energy efficiency can be calculated beforehand – and they can be printed in a way which takes less time.

“There are definitely cost savings with respect to energy efficiency [and] resource efficiency,” says Dr Pei.