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3D Printed Steel Pedestrian Bridge Will Soon Span an Amsterdam Canal 107

ErnieKey writes: Amsterdam is famed as the "Venice of the North," with close to 1,300 bridges in use. The next bridge to be built over one of the city's canals will be easily its highest-tech, as it will be constructed via 3D printing technology from MX3D. The steel pedestrian bridge, brought about by a collaboration between MX3D, Heijmans, Joris Laarman Lab, and several sponsors and supporters, will be built using 6-axis industrial robots that will begin construction on either bank and build in toward one another.
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3D Printed Steel Pedestrian Bridge Will Soon Span an Amsterdam Canal

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  • by ecotax ( 303198 )

    I just found a nice Q&A Page [heijmans.nl] about this project.
    Weird about this on SlashDot first, given that I live in Amsterdam...

    • by ecotax ( 303198 )

      Oops. Weird to hear about this on SlashDot first, I meant.

      • Re:Q&A (Score:4, Funny)

        by BlueStrat ( 756137 ) on Friday June 12, 2015 @06:16AM (#49897059)

        Weird to hear about this on SlashDot first

        Amsterdam officials had intended to keep this tech under wraps until this test project was successfully completed, as they were hoping to convince US leaders to use it to build themselves a bridge to sanity.

        Sadly...[sigh]

        Strat

        • It will never work, US politicians are too far from sanity to build an effective bridge. Perhaps we could build some ferries though.

        • by KGIII ( 973947 )

          We would be the first country to 3D print a bridge to nowhere. And we would be proud of it.

  • by mcvos ( 645701 ) on Friday June 12, 2015 @05:15AM (#49896935)

    I thought Venice was the Amsterdam of the south. And the small Dutch town of Giethoorn was the Venice of the north.

  • by SlovakWakko ( 1025878 ) on Friday June 12, 2015 @05:29AM (#49896955)
    They are actually welding the structure one drop of molten metal at a time. The energy expended must be staggering compared to classical construction technologies, and I'm pretty sure the resulting metal is seriously inferior to standard steel...
    • by ecotax ( 303198 ) on Friday June 12, 2015 @05:50AM (#49897001)

      You raise an interesting point. The article linked to in an earlier post quotes the robot manufacturer like this:

      MX3D says it can 3D print strong, complex structures of durable material, and that the new technique is more cost-effective and scalable than current 3D printing methods.

      Sounds that comes straight from the marketing department, which suggests that something built using their technology is, at the moment, a more brittle, less durable, and not as cost-effective and scalable as something built using the traditional way. On the other hand, they do claim this new technology is making progress on these fronts.

      • Re: (Score:1, Informative)

        Less cost-effective?

        Honey, in 10 years places like Netherlands will have politicians screaming for a special tax on it to compensate for all the workers thrown out.

        The savings isn't in the manufacturing, where rolling beams out will always be cheaper. It's in the assembly and transport.

        Here, there was a phrase coined in the 1970s when assembly line robots picked up speed: "This is progress?!?!?"

        • by bws111 ( 1216812 )

          Yeah, the savings are in transport, because the materials for 3D printing just magically appear, without being transported.

    • They're demoing the technology on a well understood problem with relatively low requirements.

      3D printing is unlikely to replace bridge building any time soon: humanity has a few thousand years experience in building really good bridges, and the existing technology is very very well optimized.

      It will however be able to create structures that can't easily be fabricated by other means.

      • by gl4ss ( 559668 )

        production on site..
        is what enabled the first steel cable suspension bridges.

        what would be interesting is if this is still there after a few yeas, like, usually when 3d printing metal the atmosphere is controlled and so forth(which are what make it expensive)

        • by serviscope_minor ( 664417 ) on Friday June 12, 2015 @06:37AM (#49897131) Journal

          Well, the controlled atmosphere is particularly important for the powdered metal printing, like SLS and SLM. High surface area metals are flammable as all hell. You can set fire to wire wool with a lighter to see how well iron can burn, and powders are worse as they can floof up into a nice mist cansing really bad things to happen.

          Looking at the page, the robot tool end looks rather like a MiG head. This wouldn't be too surprising, 3D printing with MiG has been discussed and tried before and it's the easiest of the welding techniques. Very much point and click, which is great for automating.

          http://mx3d.com/wp-content/upl... [mx3d.com]

          That's from their website. There is a head with a fine wire coming out of it. The concentric thing around that is almost certainly the gas blower. This blows out some inert shield gas, such as a CO2/Ar mix for steel or pure Ar for alu, which provides the inert atmosphere. The atmosphere is just to stop oxidation and scale which prevents good welding: the surface area isn't really enough for fire.

          The problem is that mig welding isn't usually done outside since even a small breeze will happily blow away the inert shield, ruining the weld. I guess they could use a metric fuckton of gas to avoid that problem for light breezes.

          • I guess they could use a metric fuckton of gas to avoid that problem for light breezes.

            Or maybe some kind of shielding from the wind and rain, like a hood.

    • by OzPeter ( 195038 )

      They are actually welding the structure one drop of molten metal at a time.

      And in the demo video on the site the "actor" walks into the room where the robot is working and is not wearing and eye protection, and is only wearing street clothes. So much for safety.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      Everything is 3D printing. To deny this is to be a Luddite. Food is 3D printed. Cars are 3D printed. Houses are 3D printed. Clothes are 3D printed. If it isn't 3D printing, it actually is 3D printing.

      • 3D printing vs Apps.

        Fight!

        • by neminem ( 561346 )

          Easy. Just 3d print your phone, then install a 3d printing app on it so you can use it to 3d print more phones to install the app onto. (I herd you like 3d printing...)

    • "I'm pretty sure the resulting metal is seriously inferior to standard steel..."

      I don't know if it applies to this specific technique or perhaps even to the materials they are using but I've heard it said that at least in standard welding that the weld is actually stronger than the surrounding metal.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Did they have an actual engineer check the statics, weight durability, corosion and weather/temperature resistance/durability?
    Or did they just have that artist draw different cute pictures of Rivendell-Style bridges and pick the prettiest/easyest to print?

    I'd rather ask before I break my neck and drown crossing one of these. Just saying.

    Aside of that: Neat project. This is where things are headed. I like the outlook of this.

    • Did they have an actual engineer check the statics, weight durability, corosion and weather/temperature resistance/durability?

      Why? We're building bridges, not sending men to the moon. Why would such a simple project require an engineer? They are just going to go and build it and call it a day. /sarcasm

      • by ArcadeMan ( 2766669 ) on Friday June 12, 2015 @08:03AM (#49897485)

        No, they're going to build it and call it a bridge. /sarcasm

    • Did they have an actual engineer check the statics, weight durability, corosion and weather/temperature resistance/durability?
      I'd rather ask before I break my neck and drown crossing one of these.

      I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

    • I just hope they have a good QA department examine the .STL file for the bridge and find any unanticipated flaws. [snopes.com]
    • by X10 ( 186866 )

      Did they have an actual engineer check the statics, weight durability, corosion and weather/temperature resistance/durability?.

      What? Half the Dutch are bridge building engineers. How can they not check?

  • by dywolf ( 2673597 ) on Friday June 12, 2015 @07:16AM (#49897231)

    Dear God, save us from the marketing department.

  • Not just Amsterdam [wikipedia.org]. The list apparently includes Manchester (UK).

    However, as it has been pointed out before, for reasons that are not immediately clear, Venice is not commonly known as "the Manchester of the South"...

    • I have never, ever heard anyone call Manchester the Venice of the North. Not even a drunk Mancunian.
  • I can finally tell the wife I have a compelling reason to buy a 3-D printer for our house. It's great for creating construction materials.
  • I had been waiting so long for another thrilling 3D printing story. Woo hoo!
    • I would not be able to resist the temptation to include an Easter egg in the design, like perhaps a 3D printed rat hidden somewhere in the structure.

  • The world going to end. As there is no man power(using machines and tech), there will be more loss. If everything can be done using 3d printing [rtoz.org], what about a man?

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