It just needs to be built at scale and the world is covered

Jan 29, 2015 15:00 GMT  ·  By

The “Atlantic Mercy” sounds like a grand name, but it will be well deserved if the plans of the Tianjin Xingang Shipyard in China run their course. After all, not many ships can claim to be world's largest medical sea vessel.

“Atlantic Mercy” is the name that the Chinese have chosen to write on the side of a vessel 174.1 meters / 571 feet in length.

It will be ready to set sail by 2018 and will weigh 37,000 tons. Also, its deck area will be of 30,000 square meters.

The purpose of the Atlantic Mercy will be to give free health care and palliative care for terminally ill patients, thus doubling the healing capabilities boasted by Mercy Ships at present. The Mercy Ships are typically sent on missions in developing nations.

In the meanwhile, it is the opinion of Mercy Ships that the vessel deserves some attention and hype. That's where Hans Nelson comes in.

The boat has been 3D printed in small scale but great detail

Hans Nelson is a graduate engineering student at LeTourneau University. His task was to 3D print a 1:176 scale model of the Atlantic Mercy.

Having done just that, with help from fellow graduate student David Wright, he presented it, alongside LETU engineering dean Dr. Ron DeLap, to Mercy Ships on Wednesday, January 28.

The ship model was made on an FFF-based printer. FFF means fused filament fabrication, and it is a synonym of FDM, or fused deposition modeling.

The ship had to be created in stages, since the print bed was of only 9 x 9 x 9 inches / 228 x 228 x 228 mm, but it's not like that's not a regular thing by now. The printer is called PolyPrinter Plus by the way.

By the end of it, there were 80 individual components, since some of the smaller pieces like staircases were crafted separately. No half-baked job here.

The ship measures 3 feet in length now, or one meter, instead of two football fields, but you could probably use it as a prop in a movie and you'd never know. Well, if you're okay not looking closely enough.

Considering that the model of the ship was created based on 2D images and drawings, it's even more impressive (that's where David Wright came in).

The key detail

The PolyPrinter Plus 3D printer costs less than three thousand bucks. That will tell you how cheap high-resolution 3D printers have become.

Atlantic Mercy (4 Images)

Atlantic Mercy 3D printed model
Atlantic Mercy is modularAtlantic Mercy will look like this
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