The BLB Custom Printer purchased by NorDan AB
NorDan will soon manufacturing fenestration products with a 3-D printer, which it will use both for testing and to mass-produce products for the consumer market.
Swedish NorDan, founded in 1926 and with 1,600 employees, will reportedly soon begin manufacturing fenestration products with a 3-D printer to save time and money, the company says.
According to a report from 3DPrint.com, NorDan AB has contracted to purchase a 3-D printer from BLB Industries, another Swedish company. The device will enable NorDan to manufacture windows up to 1.5 meters wide and 2.5 meters tall. BLB Industries will deliver the 3-D printer to NorDan this spring.
The dual-extruding 3-D printer can produce windows out of many different polymers as well as from biocomposites such as non-fossil-based raw materials and polymers mixed with wood, straw, cork and hemp.
While many window companies, including Crystal Window and Door Systems in the US, use 3-D printers to make prototypes, NorDan AB says it will use its printer both for testing and to mass-produce products for the consumer market.
NorDan AB’s new initiative is the latest example of how 3-D printing has evolved from an experimental technology into one with real-world applications in the construction industry. For example, Ukrainian company PassivDom says it can produce a self-powered home in eight hours using the technology. The compact house, which costs about USD 32,000, runs on solar power.
In 2015, Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee showed off its capabilities by printing a small house.
And Apis Cor, a start-up based in San Francisco, says it has the ability to print a sturdy concrete house in 24 hours for about USD 10,000.
3-D printing, or additive manufacturing, is a process in which layers of material are added on top of one another to produce an object. It uses a computer, 3-D modelling software, a specialized machine for “printing” and storage containers for the layering material.