The ‘Hello World’ of 3D printing is a little boat called 3DBenchy. Benchy models are usually made as a test to make sure that the 3D printer is calibrated properly.
They’re not meant to be actually sailed in – no one would set sail in anything that’s come out of a 3D printer, would they?
No one, that is, except the hardy souls at the University of Maine, in the USA.
This boat’s hull is 7.6 m long and weighs 2.2 tons, and was printed in 72 hours in one continuous print.
That was enough to earn it two Guinness World Records – it’s the world’s largest 3D-printed boat, and also the world’s largest, solid 3D-printed object of any kind.
To produce the world’s largest 3D-printed object, you need the world’s largest 3D printer. The one used by UMaine has a print volume of 30 × 6.70 × 3 metres, and uses plastic filament that contains 50% wood-fibre cellulose to achieve a strength comparable with steel.
