At the end of 2016, my attention was drawn to the direction of construction 3D printing. Following the well-known algorithm — gathering information, analyzing it, identifying problems, finding a solution — act, i realized that one day the folder of my browser called favorites will not be able to contain the entire array of information that appears every day in an increasing  arithmetic progression. So in March 2017 a Facebook group appeared 3D Construction printing. More than 2000 publications devoted to the topic of construction printing indicate a significant development in this area, and the emergence of new startups for the manufacture of 3D construction printers, and scientific developments of building mixtures for printing.

You, like me at one time, can independently get acquainted with various reviews of existing proposals of manufacturers of building 3d printers and analyze the merits and demerits of each of them. Each of you will come to your own subjective value judgments, and will certainly be right in this. If you find a «lemon» from which you can make a «lemonade» — you are on the right track.

Careful analysis and evaluation of all existing construction solutions of various models and modifications of working portal 3D building printers (without ideas and virtual prototypes) allowed me to discover a “lemon” which can be defined as — the problem of the mobility of a construction 3D portal printer the dimensions of the portal device and the weight of the structure do not allow it to be mobile in real time, outside the limits of the printed field of the building object. The problem of forced downtime.

The results of the construction printing technology achieved so far indicate that the maximum value of the stacked layers of the printed mixture (without the threat of deformation of the lower layers) is on average 1-1.5 m. After that, this part of the printed material needs a «24 hour rest» to complete chemical reactions and to obtain a mixture of sufficient strength for the subsequent continuation of the process.

The initial idea related to the dimensions of the device was formed by the question — if the maximum width of the load-bearing walls printed by a 3D construction printer does not exceed 500 mm, then where is the rationality to be found and how does the equipment’s efficiency increase? Answer is simple — to change the approach to the construction of the building 3D printer. The proposed solution allows you to transform the portal structure into two independent building 3d printers ready for autonomous operation. You can learn more about this in the models section.