An interesting little project which was sent my way last week – I was left mouth wide open after watching to the end of the video. The idea of 3D printing is becoming far more mainstream and we use a fair bit of it at work – I even had a leaflet sent to me from HP showing their new desktop 3D printers recently. However this project takes a slightly different approach and uses the power of the sun and sand (silicon) as well as some clever computer work to create objects in the desert – the energy source and material are abundant. The hipster outfit kind of makes it too.
The project is described by it’s author Markus Kayser as follows:
In a world increasingly concerned with questions of energy production and raw material shortages, this project explores the potential of desert manufacturing, where energy and material occur in abundance.
In this experiment sunlight and sand are used as raw energy and material to produce glass objects using a 3D printing process, that combines natural energy and material with high-tech production technology.
Solar-sintering aims to raise questions about the future of manufacturing and triggers dreams of the full utilisation of the production potential of the world’s most efficient energy resource – the sun. Whilst not providing definitive answers, this experiment aims to provide a point of departure for fresh thinking.
