not sure if anyone has ever posted this, just found it searching google images
http://inhabitat.com/engineer-makes-worl...ade-3d-printer/

way too many areas for a major fail to happen, but it's cool anyway for someone with a lot of time on their hands.

That is a really cool effort and a LOT of hours on the printer. I wonder how much of his $500 went into stainless bolts, washers and nuts.

I live and work in this world daily. Buying in bulk, a 2.2lb spool of abs runs $26 from american wholesale distributors. At $500 he has a bout 44 lbs of material in the yak and ABS is a pretty dense material.. Perhaps he has a "better than wholesale source" through his employer who is a machine manufacturer.

I prototyped my bait tanks and yak accessories in ABS and the prototypes are usually stronger (and heavier) than the molded production pieces. ABS is the "plastic" used to make most car bumpers. Very,very tough stuff.

Still a really cool effort.

This is neat! I am a Design Engineer in the Hood's Development Group at Peterbilt Motors in Denton, so i can appreciate the design effort that this took. 3d printing large ABS parts without it deforming can be a challenge without a heated surface. However, as far as prototyping it is the way to go. Very interesting!