A rivalry ensues! Just as a Texas University claims the Guinness World Record for the most 3D printers to run simultaneously, Colorado-based Aleph Objects is in the process of breaking that record, as soon as the Guinness World Record committee can get to verifying.
At the end of last month, Texan LeTourneau University made a call to its engineering students to gather at least 50 3D printers to initiate a world record in the highest number of 3D printers to operate in unison. LETU Dean of Engineering Dr. Ron DeLap explained that, “to my knowledge, LETU is the only university in the country to require all of its incoming freshmen engineering students to build their own individual 3D printers. Many schools have teams that build 3D printers, but we are, I believe, the first to require that all incoming freshmen build and operate their own individual 3D printers, which the students then can use throughout their college career to build prototypes of things they design.” As a result, even more 3D printers than were requested made it to the event.
On Friday, April 4, 108 students attended the rally with 108 3D printers in tow. In the end, only 102 3D printers were up and running, still more than enough to earn the school a world record. Not long after, Jeff Moe, CEO of Aleph Objects, sought to beat the school out, writing on one message board, “Sorry but, Aleph Objects, Inc. (makers of LulzBot 3D printers) breaks this record nearly every day. We have 135 printers….” The company put up a video of their own production facility, running 109 out of the 135 printers at once:
The video counts off the number of TAZ 3D printers working together, with YouTube users responding with such words of encouragement as, “I’m channing all over my TAZum”. The video, along with some paperwork, has already been sent over to the people at Guinness World Records. Rather than outdo the college itself, Aleph is seeking to fulfill the record category of “Most 3D Printers Operating at Once by a Single Business.”
Why fulfill such records, you might ask? As is already well known, the Guinness World Records are completely pointless, which is what makes them so fun. Achievement for achievement’s sake turns human activity from money, power, or sex-driven to something more akin to dancing. Rather than admire a person for her wealth, we can admire her ability to grow fingernails, wiping away the veneer of ontological importance and replacing it with absurdity. In other words, if it weren’t for the Guinness World Records, we wouldn’t have had Big Freedia’s record for the most people twerking at once.
Source: LETU
