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Comment by moocowduckquack | Hacker News Reader

Prefab needs a factory to make the prefab sections.

Also, you can lay down multiple materials by making the head swappable. I would also say plumbing and electrics are nowhere near as complex as they used to be. Everything is available as clip-on fittings these days, which is perfect for automation.

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> Prefab needs a factory to make the prefab sections.

Why do you think one or more significantly smaller printers couldn't be used as an on-site prefab factory? That seems like a much more reasonable way to approach this problem.

I like this idea and was thinking just the same. The real advantage is customizability at scale.

Form in cable runs in the floor and walls (use modular extension style cables for all the wiring). Let the "customer" run that stuff. Have voids in the ceiling for light pipes that also store solar energy for light at night. There are tons of solutions to these problems. We need some mid-size prototypes (10x10 size) and some playtime.

You don't even need to be a plumber to do plumbing; PVC the whole thing.

Pex pipe [1] might be a better choice than PVC because of its high pressure tolerance and the fact that it isn't brittle/prone to cracking. It does require nonstandard tools to work with though (ie. burly pipe cutters, special fittings, etc.)

But your point still stands. A master plumber might not be required for every part of every job today.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-linked_polyethylene

Thanks for the correction with regards to material.

I do tech/IT by day, but have a welding certification as well. Its extremely easy to braize copper tubing together for plumbing once you've practiced, but feels like its work that isn't necessary when there are easier ways to do it (ie the pex pipe you suggested).

Coincidently, I'm replacing two toilets in my home tonight. Wish me luck!

Good luck. Replacing toilets is surprisingly straightforward, just need the $2 wax ring.

Thank you! It went splendidly!

Off topic: They actually advertise the toilet as being unclogable and demonstrate it by flushing a bucket of golf balls down it. Brilliant.

Correct slopes and various other things to meet code are a lot harder than joints.

Getting the angle right is easy if all the plumbing is specified as a parametric model then machine cut, getting it wrong would be more tricky.

Still, its pretty trivial. Slopes with your level, traps in the right spots. I admit there is knowledge required, but not as much skill.

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