Turning a shipping container into a 3D printer | Hacker News Reader

Turning a shipping container into a 3D printer

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39 pointscleverjake11 comments

It's going to fail. You can't reach industrial scales like this. These things need maintenance and that isn't going to be cheap on a shipping container moving slowly around the globe.

Your response show a lack of understanding about what the real uses of a 3d printer are. The maintenance is worthwhile for the actual use-cases.

Think instead of: A one-off part for a one-of-a-kind car whose parts are no longer made. A chair with the exact outline of my buttocks. A replacement part for a custom-made machine. A life-size doll that looks like me. A prototype of my new widget, which I tweak repeatedly until the production run. Think customization, one-offs, personalization, and bespoke design.

I work in manufacturing (actually a lot of the products I work with are bespoke). They are going to have to complete on price and with their method of operations they aren't going to win that battle. There is a reason why automated tube socks are still made in China and not America. From a operations POV there is little difference between tube socks and 3d printed goods.

Don't misread me. I am not commenting on the 3d printing technology. That is going to be successful irregardless of this naive attempt.

I'm not sure I follow. If I need that custom part, and more custom things, I print it myself, or go to my local shop where they can print it for the price of the plastic and a markup.

I don't wait 2 weeks and pay shipping from china. On a one-off or custom good, the economics and opportunity cost are terrible for china. They will be even worse if oil prices rise.

Terrible for China till a certain price point then the trend returns back into China's favour.

I doubt a shipping container that needs to be stood up on its end is intended for mass use, since most equipment capable of transporting containers isn't designed to tip them over!

However, that doesn't mean something like this couldn't work on an industrial scale in the future. There's a UK TV programme I saw last week about house building (it's called Grand Designs, if you want to look it up) which featured a house made entirely from CNC milled ply-wood boxes that were made 'on-demand' onsite, using a computer controlled milling machine shipped in on...a shipping container.

It is not a massive step from a CNC miller in a portable shipping container to a 3D printer. There are several advantages (...and disadvantages) to this approach, including being able to re-make pieces on-site should you have to make adjustments due to environmental conditions.

Pictures here: http://www.facit-homes.com/clients/celia-diana

If you click long enough you'll get one of the CNC in the shipping container. The side of the container comes off, rather than the usual door at the end, and there's a work area under a roof in front of it. Very nice.

That makes sense. The idea over here is to make consumer goods while manufacturing equipment is sailing the seven seas. Economically stupid. Maybe they could be successful targeting the luxury market or abusing the tax system. I wouldn't be surprised if this is solely getting backing due to some tax loophole. Taxes may be more than the economic inefficiency.

You've completely missed the point. This isn't intended for large-batch "industrial scale" consumer good print runs. It's not intended for printing while it's on the move.

The idea is to be able to take the custom production facility to the point of specific need so that you can iterate quickly to solve the local problem.

"the Kamermaker is designed to print huge objects including furniture, architectural elements, and even entire rooms."

Guess this could be seen as a luxury on demand printer for those who have money and don't want to wait.

Thanks for enlightening me.

I don't see anything on that page about scaling like that. It wouldn't even make sense, because if you're making things at industrial scale it will always be cheaper to mass-produce than to make one-at-a-time.

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