It is a very interesting question of process: exactly what can...

It is a very interesting question of process: exactly what can be done with 3D printers? It is very much a moving feast. I have cogitated over these things.

We tend to be preoccupied with the image and sounds of that magical plastic box sitting next to our computers that spits out all kinds of wonderful 2D diagrams and discourse at the press of a button. It’s virtually immediate. Why not do this for 3D WECs? Just get some of the right ink??

There are a host of criteria to consider. Do you want the end product to just look pretty? Is it to be solid all through like a mud statue, or is it to be a thin shell? If it is large and functional are there structural problems? The weight of an object varies as the cube of the linear dimensions whereas the tension strength of materials varies as the square of linear dimensions. (Explains why ants and insects have evolved a fundamentally different body form to elephants.) Printing a small 3D model is therefore very easy. It has only to last a testing period anyway.

If printing is done in layers will the adhesion of one to the next give sufficient strength? Is oxidation during deposition a problem? Are there appropriate printing materials (chemicals – plastics, alloys, coatings) available to serve the necessary separate functions?

3D printing could be suitable for certain one off devices. But these still need painstaking detailed and careful specification by multi-diagrams, or else by mathematical formulae and boundaries. If the latter, then can easily make a series of one-off models with particular parameters changed between them, such as a sequence of shapes for wave tank testing.

A good example for use is sculpting objects or parts that have to fit precise 3D profiles and be available in short times, e.g. teeth, jaw bone, other medical bone fits. Leading question: Will these have the strength to last many years?

A C6 is large and when water filled has to move as an integral mass of 2000 tonnes; it also has to withstand mountainous seas. It will contain a mechanical structure, flotation, pumps, energy relief, power take off, electrical and control systems, etc. This suggests to me that BAs are likely to be the last items on the development list to be 3D printed.

Having said all that, remember the plastic Lego type C4 on Reunion Is? I rather liked the segmented idea for ease of transport and rapid local assembly. The French didn’t know how to put in ballast tanks and pumps, etc, but if all internals could be modularised then a simplified manufacturing process could be devised.

No one kind of printing box is going to fulfil all these functions. They will be highly specialised. I’m still a by-stander when it comes to 3D printing.

Juke

Would you print graphene with a dot or line printer, Bonus. Really need a continuous atomic structure over the whole object surface. Interesting.