In one fell swoop, the University of Maine set two Guinness records.
A UMaine team built the world’s largest 3D-printed boat, which also happened to be the world’s largest solid 3D-printed object, using the world’s largest prototype polymer 3D printer — and a new time-lapse video lets you watch the vessel’s record-setting, three-day construction comes together in half a minute.
The 3D-printed boat was launched during a ceremony hosted by the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center on Thursday, with authorities from Guinness World Records in attendance to confirm that the crew had established three new records.
The 3D-printed boat was launched during a ceremony hosted by the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center on Thursday, with authorities from Guinness World Records on attendance to confirm that the crew had established three new records.
The team put its 25-foot-long, 5,000-pound ship, dubbed 3Dirigo, through its paces in UMaine’s Alfond W2 Ocean Engineering Laboratory, which has a multidirectional wave basin and a high-performance wind machine.
According to a press release from the University of Maine, 3Dirigo isn’t even the largest object the school’s 3D printer can make – it can manufacture objects up to 100 feet long, 22 feet wide, and 10 feet high if pushed to its limits.
The institution has already lined up many uses for the printer, including a collaboration with the US Army to assist design quick-deployable shelter systems for soldiers.
