Researchers at the University of Maine (UMaine) built the world’s largest 3-D printer. Then they built a bigger one. What would you call the world’s biggest printer? They chose the name “Factory of the Future 1.0.”

Someday, this “factory” could print homes.

Two companies teamed up with UMaine researchers to build the printer. The Army Corps of Engineers provided most of the money. That’s good, because the project had a hefty price tag! It cost several million dollars.

It’s not hard to see why. The printer fills a whole building. It’s four times larger than UMaine’s previous 3-D printer. It can print objects 96 feet long by 32 feet wide by 18 feet high. That’s bigger than a tennis court!

All that printing takes a lot of raw material. The machine can gobble 500 pounds of material in a single hour. What’s it gobbling? Usually thermoplastic—substances that become soft when they get hot and then harden when they cool.

Factory of the Future 1.0’s creators have an ambitious goal. They want to print neighborhoods.

The previous 3-D printer could make an entire 600-square-foot house. Unlike most 3-D printers, it didn’t use plastic. Instead, it used wood-fiber and plant-based materials. These are recyclable. You can grind them up and print with them again. Talk about a remodel!

Why? New technologies, used well, can help solve old or tricky problems.