The University of Maine using the world’s largest prototype polymer 3D printer, a UMaine team built the world’s largest 3D-printed boat, which also happened to be the world’s largest solid 3D-printed object.
Three-day construction come together in half a minute.
The team tested the seaworthiness of its 25-foot-long, 5,000-pound ship, dubbed 3Dirigo, in UMaine’s Alfond W2 Ocean Engineering Laboratory, which features a multidirectional wave basin and a high-performance wind machine.
According to a UMaine press release, 3Dirigo isn’t even the biggest object the school’s 3D printer can construct — if pushed to its limits, it can print objects up to 100 feet long, 22 feet wide, and 10 feet high.
The school already has several applications for the printer lined up, too, including a partnership with the U.S. Army through which it’ll help develop shelter systems for soldiers that the military could quickly deploy.