3D printer converts sand to 3D glass

[harpentuan]

http://thisiscolossal.com/2011/06/markus-kayser-builds-a-solar-powered-3d-printer-that-prints-glass-from-sand-and-a-sun-powered-laser-cutter/

[glasspyromania]

Thats cool

[Sketchball]

Brilliant!

I remember seeing something about DIY 3d printers on Pirate Bay that was supposed to be the "new age of file sharing"... but with the time it took and the very basic objects it created, I said to myself "I'd rather learn to lampwork and make it out of glass" (Maybe in so many words :-P) But either way, hilarious/incredible to see a glass printer about a year later.

I wonder if there are any industrious uses of this same technology for glass that isn't done by one dude out in the desert... and what could a large scale machine like that do that can't be done already?

Thanks for posting!

[ACE]

i wonder if he can make more complex shapes than that.....those sunglasses are sweet though.

i just saw a thing on the 3d printer on colbert. it looked awesome, but yeah, slow. and costly.

[kq9ak]

Just think of possibilities no more prodo just hit print

[Bro-crispy]

That guy's a nut.

3-D printing glass is not new, though.

http://www.shapeways.com/blog/archives/401-you-can-now-3D-print-in-glass-with-Shapeways.html

http://www.shapeways.com/blog/archives/489-Introducing-High-Gloss-Black-Glass-High-Gloss-White-Glass.html

http://www.shapeways.com/blog/archives/653-Amazing-3D-Printed-Glass.html

I've held one of these objects, they are pretty freaking impressive. Nothing like clear blown glass (very grainy, and of course not clear), but amazing none the less. The future will be interesting . . .

[Icarus]

Awesome! I also learned from that video (and subsequent wikipedia searching) that the sintering process does not always include applying pressure. I always thought that sintering was more of a process of filling a mold with a powder, then applying heat AND pressure to allow the particles to bind.

Cool stuff.

[Alfred]

i wonder if he can make more complex shapes than that.....those sunglasses are sweet though.

i just saw a thing on the 3d printer on colbert. it looked awesome, but yeah, slow. and costly.

Scroll down to the vid,the cutter isn't the awesome part the solar sinterer is the awesome part. Here's the vid:

Solar Sinterer 3D Printer (http://vimeo.com/25401444)

[Alfred]

The 2 best parts of the vid are him draggin the thing in the desert and the labeling of the apparatus, I love the "office".

[Alfred]

http://www.markuskayser.com/

Dudes website ,cool stuff

[Greymatter Glass]

wow, that was cool....the close up of the melting was the best part by far

but I also liked his office :P

[Alfred]

Oh yea the melting was cool too