Urschel Wall Building Machine - can this be done with aircrete?
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Has anyone seen these videos? I find it very interesting that this was initially done in the 1930's! It uses a similar (but more complicated) central pole setup. I'm just wondering if you could do something similar with the aircrete. It's kind of like slipforming the concrete in layers in the round. Pretty cool! What does everyone think?
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That is pretty cool. I would say it would be 3d printed today.
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There is a 3d printing machine that is very similar to the Urschel. It is called the WASP Crane and uses a mud mixture to build circular walls. Here is a video of the machine in action:
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I wonder if:
- the earth mixture could be substituted with aircrete in the Wasp
- if aircrete could be used in a manual machine such as the Urschel
Any thoughts?
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Does any body have any opinions on this?
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@Kwagga I think it would not be possible with the liquid standard mix. It may be possible to do with acrylic added, a thicker mortar type mix, and with less foam.
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This is interesting. I was thinking of a modified compass center pole design using 4 arms. At the end of each arm would be attached a 1 meter x 1 meter mold to inject the aircrete into, or pour it in from the top of the mold. After the aircrete sets for a day or 2, all 4 of the molds can be moved to the next adjacent position. Row by row moving up vertically.
My other thought was to make the mold stationary and pre-make the blocks to assemble with mortar. All the blocks could be theoretically identical, because the structure is spherical. They may have to be cut as the rows move upwards.
This would be cool because all of the blocks could be pre-made and packed into a shipping container and delivered to anywhere in the world. Like a dome kit in a box, some assembly required!! -
@upwinger I think that is a good idea to try. Might even be able to add an accelerant to dry fast allowing several blocks to be completed each day.
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Then the shipping container can be re-used or kept on site for storage, or converted to another living space.
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@upwinger perhaps something like this