Submitted 3 weeks ago by RegularJoe@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world
https://apnews.com/article/starbucks-first-3d-printed-store-texas-552972e9df63796e42ede152747b9069
I kind of think that if they’re going to do 3D printed structures, they’d do better to do buildings that can really play to the technology’s strengths: the ability to create fairly-arbitrary, organic shapes.
I mean, what they’ve got there is basically a rectangle with rounded corners. I guess the rounded corners are aesthetically unusual, but it doesn’t seem like it’s buying Starbucks a whole lot.
The more complex the design, the more expensive it’s going to be, even with this construction method. Starbucks is looking to do this as cheaply as possible.
Complexity doesn’t really add difficulty to 3d printing. My 3D printer doesn’t much care whether a head is moving in a straight line or doing a zig-zag.
Casting concrete requires building formwork to cast the concrete into. For any standardised shape constructing the formwork is easy: Just assemble it from the parts you have. Straight sections? The most common case. Rounded corners? As long as you’re fine with “should be round” and don’t require some very specific radius, those are probably also at hand. A gargoyle? Well that’s not an easy form to produce but once you have it, you can cast 1000 gargoyles.
Where 3d printing comes in is places where you have a shape that’s literally or nearly unique, where building the formwork would be a PITA. In all other cases, the traditional method is quicker and cheaper.
Also interesting is stuff like solar sintering plain sand.
I’m sure it’s a basic shape because the technology is in its infancy, and they wanted an actual building in the end. The fancy stuff comes later.
Yeah, I’m not an expert in construction but I don’t really know what this buys you vs using, for example, insulating concrete forms.
It’s outlined in the article, fwiw.
The benefit is not needing workers to do the construction
Place your bets, when will Starbucks / A Company that uses this method start implementing AI to design the buildings and run the printers? The last part of the article they talk about how this was more expensive than normal, but it “addressed a labor shortage.” Motherfuckers will literally spend twice as much just to not pay a human a living wage.
“addressing labor shortage”= finding a way to bypassing the meddlesome union-loving employees.
I was once looking at a robot lawnmower to tend to my ageing parents lawn. I was looking at prices over a thousand bucks and thinking seriously.
My parents hired a local handyman to do it every few weeks for a small sum that across a year would still be less than the robo mower and do a better job at it and without the hurdles of maintaining that mower.
That realisation had me reevaluating automation as a whole.
How many years will that mower last though? I have a riding mower that I paid $2100.00 for… 14 years ago.
If you need 500,000 screws all fitted to a target pressure then automation is what you want. But one off tasks like cutting the grass or trimming the hedge, you’ll end up spending more on the equipment then you’ll save.
Thank god that the US is continuing to innovate in the absolute dog-shit cheap and dirty building sector
If it leads to housing prices dropping, I’m good with ugly.
Construction experts say the store is an example of an industry figuring out ways to use the technology.
“Experts say thing being used is example of thing being used.”
with all the union-busting they have been doing recently, they are trying to eliminate that by testing out the automated store.
From a 3d print perspective - holy shit the extrusion is way off. Extra splooge on the corners, layer lines are shit. I’d trash it and recalibrate. Even concrete prints can look better.
Exactly. My printers are currently very pissed off at me for some reason and even in their current state, they could do better than this.
I have an old Ender 3, that rarely turns on, then my Bambu P1s decided to fight dirty one day and the whole damn hotend broke off. Like they glue it up in there or something and I had to buy a replacement… 3 days of torture waiting on that damn thing. But the thing rarely fucks up a print (when pieces don’t fall off), even if I do weird shit like leave supports off and bridge a gap like 4 inches (ok, so inside was thready as fuck, but outside was great, and at 4mm thick and it was for my DWV pipe converted chicken feeder I don’t give af)
🤔 there’s some jank on this print. Guess they’re just going to accept it.
They didn’t say in the article just how long it took to build. If you are in the area, did you notice about how long it took to actually put the thing together and get it open?
Clever use of the technology. I wonder if any other businesses are looking into this?
Looks like a dark cave. It could use a few more windows.
I’m guessing that either (a) the method of concrete extrusion or (b) the process the particular company uses doesn’t permit for what I’ve generally heard in the plastic 3D printing world called “bridging” — being able to create some limited degree of overhang to create arches. If you look at the building, there are no arches — the places with windows are gaps reaching to the roof in the 3D printed wall.
I’d think that one route to achieve that might be, during the printing process, sticking some kind of metal support above the window during the printing process, even if the extruded concrete alone doesn’t permit for it. But if they can’t do that as things stand, it’d explain why they might not want to have a lot of windows.
Generally they lay steel plates at certain preprogrammed intervals to place in windows. A worker sits on standby while it pauses a few seconds to just place the part. Not a difficult feat. Just laziness or frugalness on the construction.
elvith@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
You wouldn’t download a Starbucks,…
dan69@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Oh yah baby give that raw espresso shot to my veins!!