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OGDEN — Employees at WhiteClouds, the world's largest 3-D color printing company, helped acquit a Montana man accused of murder.
Cris Fowers, one of the employees who worked on this project, said the company was contacted nearly a year ago by an attorney whose client was accused of shooting and killing a man at his home.
"His client was being charged with murder, and in this specific case it was really important that he could show his client's home," Fowers said. "During the course of the events, the intruder went out the front window of the home and made it back to his truck where he died."
So it was up to his attorney and the employees at WhiteClouds to prove to the jury that the intruder was shot inside the home and not killed outside, where police believe it happened.
The team got to work and spent 50 hours designing the first level of the house using 300 pictures.
They used a 3-D printing machine to construct the model. The machine uses the same materials Sheetrock is made out of, along with a binding agent similar to super glue.
"It rolls out a layer of gypsum powder about the thickness of the human hair and then goes through and binds powder together. Then it rolls out another layer of powder and the process repeats," Fowers said.
That process took the team about 90 hours — time Fowers says was worth it.
Last week, he got the good news that the attorney's client was acquitted.
"There was a sense of gratification there," Fowers said. "I mean we have done something to help somebody."
3D printed house replica crucial for acquittal of home invasion shooting ... - https://t.co/IFx5GSc0US#3dprintingpic.twitter.com/jZ6RePG6H3
— B3dge (@Build3dprinter) February 26, 2016
