Excited about the new Star Wars film, Rogue One? In Madrid, Spain a Death Star replica is fabricated in real-time on a huge 3D printer.

Don’t Miss: What Would it Take to 3D Print a 1:1 Scale Death Star?

This past weekend a huge, massive, gigantic 3D printer mysteriously appeared in downtown Madrid, Spain. The purpose? To fabricate a super-sized Death Star from “Star Wars” infamy.

Obviously, this is not going to be a moon-sized weapon of mass destruction. That would be silly. But it’s pretty cool to see a Death Star fabricated in real-time by an even bigger 3D printing machine.

The purpose of the stunt is to promote the impending release of “Rogue One” from Walt Disney Studios, appearing at a multiplex near you this festive season.

Located on the Puerta de Alcalá square, the 3D printer was provided by ErectorBot, an American manufacturer of very large 3D printers based around fused filament fabrication (FFF) technology.

3D Printing a Death Star Will Take a While

Don’t Miss:

The ErecterBot 3D printer has been specially manufactured for this project and is enclosed in a large glass cube.

The purpose of the cube is so the public can gawp and follow the progress of the 3D printing action from a safe distance. Also, and this problem will be familiar to anyone who’s used an FFF machine, the glass should project the print from environmental interference like heat and moisture.

The model Death Star is printed from PLA filament. Once complete, it will be a whopping two meters in diameter and weigh over 100 kilograms. Supervising the entire non-stop process is ErectorBot Engineer Leonar Dodd.

So what about this new Star Wars movie, then? “Rogue One” will premiere in Spain on Thursday 15 December. But barring any unforeseen complications, the corresponding model won’t be completed until Sunday 18 December.

Follow the action on twitter with the hashtag #DeathStarMission. Furthermore, you can remotely monitor the progress of the print job on the dedicated Death Star Mission website.

Source: One Magazine