US inventor 3D-prints castle in his backyard

3D printing will undoubtedly change the world in a big way. The technology allows for the easy creation of rather complex structures, so one could imagine its value in areas like construction. That sentence nicely leads to this revelation, that a construction guru in the U.S. has 3D printed a castle in his back garden from a bespoke cement printer.

Printing cement is not a common practice, and comes with its own set of problems and advantages. Currently, only one other company is known for diving head-first into the practice, until now.

Andrey Rudenko, through his engineering expertise and love for construction has built a 3D printer capable of creating a castle, fit for a Disney princess — albeit a slightly evil one.

Although this castle is effectively a large-scale test, it is by no means unimpressive. A gorilla could effectively walk through it, and live quite comfortably inside its walls. Although it features no roof, the structure is 3D printed, layer upon layer.

The dark area, as 3DPrint notes, took eight hours of constant printing to construct, which suggests that this entire castle took over a day to complete. While issues included waterproofing electrical outlets, arranging cables and probably, staying up for an entire day, Rudenko notes that stopping the printer is the main issue. While it’s active, it’s relatively accurate (note the intricate layering) but once its stopped and restarts, it’s less aesthetically pleasing.

Rudenko hopes to 3D print an entire two-storey house in the Northern summer. While the technology is still in diapers, 3D printed homes does seem likely in the future. It’s definitely not as farfetched as 3D printed burgers in any case.

Images: 3DPrint/Andrey Rudenko