An conceptualization of MX3D's printers in action. (Credit: MX3D) A 3-D printer that makes steel structures appear out of thin air will try its hand at building — wait, printing — a pedestrian bridge. MX3D is a Netherlands-based start-up that researches and develops 3-D printing technologies. Later this year the company is planning its most ambitious project yet: Using 3-D printers to construct a bridge over a canal in the heart of Amsterdam.
The MX3D team essentially takes everything you know about 3-D printing and turns it on its head. The traditional process would be this: Printers build objects from the bottom up by applying layer after layer of plastic goop from dispenser that shuttles back and forth along a horizontal plane. The end product has telltale layers that sort of resemble a topographic map. This is not how MX3D printers work. Instead, the MX3D-Metal printer builds structures by ejecting ...
