Eazao Zero - Due Diligence Factors #1 & #2

Due Diligence is important in educational and social enterprise settings.  The next few posts explore some of the factors when considering 3D printing of ceramics in our situation.

3D Print Ceramics with the Eazao Zero

I am at the point in my life where most of the decisions involving pursuing a particular technology are based on how it might positively impact the life of at-risk students and, in particular, those on the autism spectrum.  While there is an element of fun in all these pursuits involving 3D technologies, moving in any new direction has to be done while keeping a very serious goal in mind.

So, decisions cannot be made on a whim.  We must do some serious "Due Diligence" and laboratory evaluations before adopting a new technology for introduction to those we serve.  We've long considered ceramic 3D printing to be a worthy technology to explore because items printed in ceramics have an inherently greater perceived value than objects printed in plastic and, thus, we recognize its career potential for neurodiverse individuals interested in 3D design and printing.

As far as previous explorations into potential ceramic 3D printing methodologies goes, much of it was based on in-house experience with both powder-binder and professional SLA printing.  Here, for instance is a video showing students on the autism spectrum using a powder-binder printer to turn some 3D scanned historic objects into prints.  It's a great example of students helping students.

Why The Interest in Eazao?

Neither powder-binder nor SLA ceramic 3D printing were found to suitable for meeting the goals we have projected for our program.  But, finding the Eazao's line of 3D ceramic printers encourages us to look more deeply at this new potential.  While there are many factors to consider we'll just point out two in this post and introduce others in subsequent posts.

Eazao Zero Ceramics Printer

Factor #1: Scalability

One of most immediately appealing things about Eazao, as a company, is that one can start with a modestly priced desktop Eazao Zero ceramic printer to learn the basics of all aspects of exploring ceramics 3D printing and marketing.  This includes the necessary workflow from clay selection and preparation to actually having product to sell.  Even if one only begins with the microwave kiln, they are able to gain experience in all the steps required to produce viable and valuable ceramic works.

Then if that stage of development is successful, they can leverage that experience and grow by moving on to the much larger Eazao Mega 5 without having to change manufacturers.  

 

Eazao Mega 5 Ceramic 3D Printer

For others, their advancement might mean printing smaller rather than bigger.  Their Eazao Zero one experience might put them in the front of the line in a university setting for using the Eazao Bio microfluidic 3D printer.  Since 2013, the at-risk students with whom I have contact, have enjoyed field trips to the University of Maryland's Fischell Bioengineering  lab to watch experiments in growing living tissues aided by 3D printing.  Their interest and the quality of their questions is astounding.  So, I don't dismiss the possibility that one of our students might find themselves working in such a lab or even doing experiments on their own. 

Eazao Bio Microfluidic 3D Printer

The breadth of the ceramic offerings from Eazao, offering scalability, is one of the reasons why they deserve consideration.

Factor #2: User Focus

Equipment manufacturers are notorious for having the attitude that just just making a well-working product is enough.  It is not.  That is particularly true for something like a ceramics 3D printer which crosses boundaries of experience.

Some of the potential users will have a typical clay artist background. They know hand working and finishing clay. But, they may not have even the tiniest experience with 3D printing.  Other potential users may know 3D design and have used a traditional 3D printer. But, their experience with the workflow required to create a ceramics product may be sorely lacking. If there were ever a user base that needed help in bringing these two worlds together, it is the Eazao Zero 3D printer user.

So, we felt is imperative to try to divine the philosophy of Eazao's team regarding their relationship to the success of their users by searching articles, videos and social media posts.

The workflow for being able to successfully deliver a final 3D printed ceramic object is certainly more demanding than most 3D printing users face. Users of PLA filament don't have to prepare their own materials.  They simply open a box and start using it.  Traditional clay artists don't have to worry about things like leveling a print table, setting a gap and avoiding overhangs.  There is something new to learn no matter from which camp an Eazao Zero user comes.

While the product is so new that Kickstarter contributers continue to receive them, there are already a fair number of videos from Eazao covering a variety of issues owners might face as the begin to set up their printers and begin trying to use them.  This bodes well for the attitude we can expect from Eazao toward it user base.

While it's impossible to know for sure, based on their Kickstarter Page, the initial user base may be around 500 units.  As the Kickstarter demand is fulfilled, is is only good 'due diligence' practice to keep a sharp eye out for how Eazao responds to inevitable issues* and user confusion. 

So far, it appears to be much higher than most of the support for a new product I've seen over the last few decades.  And that is good news.

* All manufactured products have some initial issues.  It's unfair not to expect them.  It's how those issues are addressed that makes the critical difference.