Since purchase in 2020 the Board has neither asked for nor received detailed information regarding the progress, problems, added costs or anything else about this experimental project. Turns out project has been taxing staff, huge printer rebuilt at unknown cost in labor and parts, two building experiments have failed, and future use depends on extremely well trained technicians – not students | Is it time to end the experiment rather than spend more taxpayer money on it but no one dares ask that question?
OPINION. The Yavapai Community College Governing Board has one employee who reports to it and for whom it is responsible: the President. Yet, the Board has made no demands that the President properly inform it on a regular basis in detail about certain projects and programs costing thousands in taxpayer dollars.
Foundation and walls printed for experimental Tempe Habitat for Humanity home.
POOR REPORTING TO BOARD. One vivid illustration of the Board’s lack of concern with the poor reporting record occurred during the October 2022 meeting when housing on the Verde Campus was a topic. The information about the Community College’s expensive 3D cement printer project begun in February 2020 arose only inadvertently during the discussion.
3D PRINTERS COST OVER $400,000.00 OF TAXPAYER MONEY. You may recall that in February 2020 the Yavapai Community College District Governing Board was asked by College administrators to amend its budget and authorize spending at least $400,000.00 dollars to purchase two futuristic 3D cement construction printers (a big one and a little one). It was an expensive investment in an experiment. (You may view the report made to the Governing Board in February 2020 about this project on the following video clip. https://www.screencast.com/t/Pbakk3g1
CHINO REPLACEMENT STILL NOT BUILT. When the announcement about the purchase was made in 2020, the College said the big machine could be used “that summer” to build a small home on the Chino Valley Campus to replace a manufactured one owned by the College that is need of repair. That idea seems to have been abandoned. Rather, three home sites have been created at the Chino Valley Campus. None as of October 2022 have apparently yet been successfully constructed.
Moreover, because the newly purchased machine had to rebuilt, the goal of using it in the summer of 2020 vanished. It has still not been used successfully.
Also, at the time of the original announcement, there was some thought the smaller machine would end up at the Verde Campus. However, the small machine ended up at CTEC where it is used experimentally to test various grades of cement.
Career and Technical Education Center Dean John Morgan, who has been in charge of the cement 3D printer project, provided the Board with some information about the 3D machine at the October meeting. (Click here to see video clip of Dean Morgan commenting to the Governing Board on the project at the October Governing Board meeting.)
MAJOR STAFF HEADACHE. It turns out that the project has been, at best, a major headache for Morgan and members of his staff. He described working with the 3D printer project as having “been a difficult journey.” He said the College has been “delayed on several fronts.” Astonishingly, he also said the large half million dollar machine purchased by the College “had to be completely rebuilt.” No one on the Board asked about the reason for rebuilding the machine or the cost to the Community College in terms of labor and parts.
BUILDING EFFORTS NOT SUCCESSFUL. Dean Morgan said that there had been at least two unsuccessful attempts at using the machine. However, he was hopeful that a third effort at utilizing it would be successful. No one on the Board asked for a clearer explanation regarding the reasons for the two failures.
Dean Morgan emphasized that operating the big 3D cement printing machine is very technical with a steep learning curve. The complexity appears to make it doubtful that it will find much use by students in building anything.
SHORTAGE OF CONCRETE. He also informed the Board that the project faces an immediate problem of a concrete shortage. “Local builders,” he said, are “allotted how much they can get in a week.” Because of the limited availability of concrete and its cost, the College is now trying to shift to using ash rather than concrete in its building experiment. According to Morgan, if ash can be used, it is 30% less than concrete.
NO COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT. The College apparently never set up a Committee to work with the development of this expensive venture, which seemed to one Board member as unusual.
UNIFORMED. The College has still not informed the Board in public of the major issues associated with building 3D constructed structures in Arizona such as the impact major daily temperatures have on construction, that at present engineering estimates are that it costs as much to build a 3D printed house as a stick-built house, or that there has been a tendency for cracks in concrete walls to show up in early experiments.
SHOULD IT CONTINUE? There is a major question at this point regarding the efficacy of going forward with the project. Are the future costs worth the potential benefits? It is a question no one on the Board is prepared to ask. Probably because the project remains pretty much in the dark as far as actual knowledge is concerned.
If you want to see one of the first efforts at building a concrete home in Arizona, with an engineer’s explanation of some of the problems, there is an excellent video in the ENR Engineering News-Record. Here is the link to the page that has the video on it (be careful, you only have one chance to open this page and see the video. After that, they want you to purchase a monthly subscription.) https://www.enr.com/articles/51972-house-made-of-3d-printed-concrete-goes-up-in-arizona .
You can view a video clip of Dean Morgan’s comments to the Governing Board about the two machines made at the October meeting by clicking here.
SOURCES FOR THIS STORY INCLUDE: October, 2022 Governing Board Business Meeting and various Blog articles listed below that you can view.
(Blog Article) https://www.eyeonyavapaicollege.com/ctec/college-purchased-two-3d-cement-construction-printers-with-half-million-dollar-decision/
(Blog Article) https://www.eyeonyavapaicollege.com/ctec/architect-explains-how-new-3d-cement-construction-printer-can-be-used/
Listed below for your information are some videos describing the problems associated with 3D printing of homes and some information about the first cement house built in Tempe, Arizona.
https://architizer.com/blog/practice/details/3d-printed-buildings-future-or-gimmick/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz1LM9kwRLY (outlines general overall problems)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N9UudQZVCs