World News

22325 readers

110 users here now

Breaking news from around the world.

News that is American but has an international facet may also be posted here.

Guidelines for submissions:

Where possible, post the original source of information.
- If there is a paywall, you can use alternative sources or provide an archive.today, 12ft.io, etc. link in the body.
Do not editorialize titles. Preserve the original title when possible; edits for clarity are fine.
Do not post ragebait or shock stories. These will be removed.
Do not post tabloid or blogspam stories. These will be removed.
Social media should be a source of last resort.

These guidelines will be enforced on a know-it-when-I-see-it basis.

For US News, see the US News community.

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 3 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

Japanese railway shelter replaced in less than 6 hours by 3D-printed model (arstechnica.com)

submitted 5 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

17 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Hatsushima is not a particularly busy station, relative to Japanese rail commuting as a whole. It serves a town (Arida) of about 25,000, known for mandarin oranges and scabbardfish, that is shrinking in population, like most of Japan. Its station sees between one to three trains per hour at its stop, helping about 530 riders find their way. Its wooden station was due for replacement, and the replacement could be smaller.

The replacement, it turned out, could also be a trial for industrial-scale 3D-printing of custom rail shelters. Serendix, a construction firm that previously 3D-printed 538-square-foot homes for about $38,000, built a shelter for Hatsushima in about seven days, as shown at The New York Times. The fabricated shelter was shipped in four parts by rail, then pieced together in a span that the site Futurism says is "just under three hours," but which the Times, seemingly present at the scene, pegs at six. It was in place by the first train's arrival at 5:45 am.

Love the kicker of "Concrete Examples." chef's kiss

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago

I just don't think that 3D printing channels and foam insulation instead of using a stud-like arrangement and fiberglass insulation would actually make sense for the large-scale insulated structures you mentioned in your initial comment.

The main reason to make these instead of normal buildings is cost and convenience and having to disassemble and ship the parts to be melted down into a new design instead of being able to renovate on-premises using any contractor you like is a big negative.

This type of construction seems not to make sense for insulated structures at the moment if renovation isn't affordable or convenient. It may not even be code compliant (electrical or building code) to install electricity in these structures.