Those of you who click through to read more about this very cool project from grad student Kenny Cheung of MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms may be a bit disappointed: The page is not really complete yet and a bunch of the resources, including the physibles, are still “coming soon!” But it’s such a cool idea, I didn’t want to wait. Looks like the molds are laser cut and, I would expect, reusable. [Thanks, thatcherc!]
16 thoughts on “Cast Cement CNC Chassis”
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Wow! What an awesome idea!
At least it won’t have to worry about temperature and humidity changing it’s shape at all.
There are some REALLY high precision (and expensive) machines built using a derivative of this method called epoxy granite. There is a huge discussion thread about the best aggregate mix/resin and designs at cnczone.com They’ve even developed equations to calculate the sizes and quantities of aggregate for close packing the granules for optimum aggregate/resin ratios. Some of the stuff going on in there is rocket science compared to many cnc sites.
There a few articles around describing how this process was used during World War I…
https://www.engineeringforchange.org/news/2011/07/31/the_concrete_lathe_world_war_i_technology_meets_21st_century_design.html
There’s also an opensource project…
http://concretelathe.wikispaces.com/
Check out “The-Multimachine-150-12-Inch-Swing-Metal-Lathe-Mill-Drill” in projects. A re-discovered World War One concrete tool technique that could be great for full size machine tools
The Make site http://makeprojects.com/Project/The-Multimachine-150-12-Inch-Swing-Metal-Lathe-Mill-Drill/1751/1 is the only one that is updated daily. It also has great .pdf output.
Pat Delany
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