14 DAY TRIAL // You would think that, before you start to build a castle, you would at least try to make a house first. A man from Minnesota decided to go the completely opposite way, and lo and behold, he's pulling it off.
Then again, the man did go with a miniature version of a castle. Very miniaturized, in fact. Just enough for it to be a nice-looking décor during a backyard barbecue.
We are talking about Andrey Rudenko who, despite the name, is actually a citizen from the United States, specifically Minnesota, as we said before.
Back in May, he revealed to the world that he had built his own concrete 3D printer capable of raising buildings without any other help. It was the second or third house-building 3D printer ever introduced, depending on whom you asked.
The printer can raise structures by extruding fluid concrete that hardens almost as soon as it is deposited over the previous layer.
Rudenko had plans to use the printer to build a small castle, sort of a trial run, and he threw all his experience in engineering behind the plan.
In the end, he had some problems to struggle through, so he's only now making the castle, instead of beginning the house as he hoped he would. He wanted to print the house this summer, you see, but with July now over, he's a bit behind.
At least his castle is coming along. It will give him the confidence needed to make the real building, and maybe others after it, assuming he doesn't get bogged down with the task of furnishing his new building.
In the adjoining photos you can see the castle, such as it is after one and a half months of printing and reprinting. Since Rudenko used regular cement, he had to check the stability repeatedly, as there was a chance that the print would collapse after raising 50 cm in a row (roughly 20 inches, took 8 hours to print). In the end, he was able to print even more, 75 to 100 cm (30 to 40 inches).
The quality of the prints is actually high, as others pointed out. Better than for other concrete-based house-building printers. It's a good thing that Rudenko has a background in engineering and working as a contractor, because he might get requests if his house project is successful. We'll have to wait and see the house first of course, but we've got a good feeling about this one.
