October 01, 2018

Volunteer Spotlight- Jean Pabon

October 01, 2018/ Guest User

The MakerLab volunteers are a really important part of the lab. They help day to day welcoming makers, assisting with workshops and fixing printers. Today, we will introduce you to one of our volunteers, Jean Pabon!

Jean is a junior here at Illinois studying Management in the Gies College of Business and has been an essential part of the MakerLab since he joined! Jean’s favorite part of the MakerLab is working with other people to help them better understand what the lab has to offer and what 3D printing is all about! The project Jean is most invested in goes hand in hand with his favorite part about the lab. Jean is the lead on our video creation. His responsibilities entail gathering different footage of what’s going on in the lab. From objects printing, to workshops, to finished prints, Jean is gathering it all to start making videos for our social media! In fact, Jean produced the video that we submitted for the InfyMakers and won! Below are some pictures that Jean plans on featuring in his next video! Jean loves sharing his passion for 3D printing as he thinks it’s great that the Illinois MakerLab is one of the few spots on campus that allows people to have access to such a unique technology. He knows that 3D printing is revolutionizing the world and with the MakerLab people can easily be a part of that revolution.

“The best thing the Makerlab has to offer is its versatility. People can use the lab for all sorts of things. If someone wants a unique keychain, a personalized gift, or is trying to design some form of art piece, or trying to test something for research, the lab can fulfill all those needs. ”

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September 29, 2018

Illinois MakerLab Team Competes in National Make48 Competition

September 29, 2018/ Guest User

This year, the University of Illinois was one of the twelve schools invited to participate in Make48, an annual competition that invites teams of four individuals to participate in a weekend-long design competition. Participants must plan, prototype, and pitch a new idea, drawing inspiration from a given theme in just 48 hours! This year we were excited to send a team of 4 from the MakerLab: Yuxuan Tang, Dashiell Kosaka, Suixin Liu, and William Casey Jones. They got to travel to Baltimore, Maryland this past August to engage with makers from all around the country. And the best part? They were filmed lived as Make48 doubles as an educational tv series. So, our very own team will appear on season 3 which will air Fall 2019! Stay tuned and don’t watch our makers in action at Make48 next fall!

“I learned so much ranging from shop tools to marketing, knowledge that my major would never have given me alone. I knew being an entrepreneur was hard, but even with the constant assistance from the helpers there, we were very pressed for time. There were also so many sponsors and big names for the event we were able to meet [and] the team was able to get our names out there.”

— Dashiell Kosaka, MakerLab Guru

December 12, 2017

Volunteer Spotlight- Tony Kim

December 12, 2017/ Guest User

The MakerLab volunteers are a really important part of the lab. They help day to day welcoming makers, and assist with workshops and fixing printers. Today, we will introduce you to one of our volunteers, Tony Kim!

Tony is a junior here at Illinios studying business and statistics. Tony found out about the MakerLab though a course taught by MakerLab co-director Vishal Sachdev. After hearing Vishal talk about the lab, Tony joined as a volunteer because everything looked so cool. Tony’s favorite part about the lab varied as the semester has progressed. Towards the beginning Tony loved to learn how to fix the printers, but now that he knows how to 3D print Tony has taken on the challenge of finding and creating his own models to print. Tony is one of our most involved volunteers at the MakerLab. He is a part of connecting all 3D printing labs across campus, helping to write blogs for our website and has just recently joined our social media team to manage the YouTube channel. So be on the lookout for his first video coming soon on what exactly is 3D printing. Tony would like to help spread awareness of 3D printing to students who are not actively pursuing a STEM major. To kick off his goal Tony 3D printed his own Phantom of the Opera mask to show off to his friends during Halloween! We will be sad to see Tony and all of his enthusiasm leave at the end of this semester as he will return to Korea University. But the MakerLab spirit will live on as Tony hopes to start a MakerLab there! Good luck Tony!

Stay tuned for MakerLab updates by liking us on Facebook, or following us on Snapchat(uimakerlab), Twitter or Instagram. Want to be featured in a blog post? If you have an interesting story that you would like to tell about making at the lab, share it with us by emailing UIMakerLab@Illinois.edu!

December 12, 2017

Volunteer Spotlight- Yuxuan Tang

December 12, 2017/ Guest User

Yuxuan is a junior here at Illinois studying Accounting. He first found the MakerLab through an accounting class he took his sophomore year. Yuxuan decided to join the MakerLab team because he loved the fact that you can make your dream creations come true. As a volunteer here, Yuxuan has been able to see this in action multiple times through both seeing what others print at the lab and also through his own prints and ideas. One such creation of his has been a great success in the lab. Yuxuan was able to think of a simple yet very helpful solution in keeping our filament wheels nice and neat. The filament that we use comes in large rolls like ribbon. And also like ribbon it is very easy to lose the start of the roll. To solve this simple problem, Yuxuan designed a wheel clip using SketchUp that would allow you to thread the start of the filament through to prevent it from getting lost in the whole wheel. It turned out to be a huge success and great help in keeping out lab clean and frustration free!

Stay tuned for MakerLab updates by liking us on Facebook, or following us on Twitter or Instagram. Want to be featured in a blog post? If you have an interesting story that you would like to tell about making at the lab, share it with us by emailing UIMakerLab@Illinois.edu!

September 26, 2017

Volunteer Spotlight- Vanessa Yang

September 26, 2017/ Guest User

Vanessa is a freshman in the College of Business here at Illinois. She is hoping to double major in Information Systems/Information technology and either Marketing or Finance. Vanessa found out about the MakerLab through a email sent by one of the deans of the College of Business. And she is so glad that she decided to apply as a volunteer here! She wants to gain valuable knowledge of the 3D printing world as well as having the chance to 3D print her own creations. Here at the MakerLab, we like to get volunteers involved with projects around the lab. Vanessa chose to join our Print a Month project. This project has volunteers chose a print each month related to the something they care about! For this month, Vanessa chose to 3D print a woodblock print called The Great Wave Off Kanagawa. This woodblock print created by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai depicts a huge wave about to come crashing down on some fisherman. Vanessa chose this as her print for September because of it was her favorite woodblock print! Next month, Vanessa hopes to do something spooky in honor of Halloween. Vanessa loves working at the MakerLab because of how unique it is and would encourage anyone to stop by!

December 06, 2016

Volunteer Spotlight- Will Jones

December 06, 2016/ Guest User

The MakerLab volunteers are a really important part of the lab. They help day-to-day welcoming makers, and assist with workshops and fixing printers. Today, we will introduce you to one of our volunteers, Will Jones! will

Will is currently a freshman in the Division of General Studies. He is hoping to transfer into Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering next year. Will first came to the MakerLab to print a mount for his GoPro camera. Once he figured out about the opportunity to volunteer here, he signed right up! Since then Will has been an instrumental part of the MakerLab team. He is currently working on getting a 3D workshop using a program known as Mathematica up and running. Mathematica, much as its name infers, uses math to create 3D objects that can then be printed. Will has also done a lot of printing on his own. Just recently Will submitted two prints for a cosplay contest in 3D printing.

Proof that Tony Stark has a heart

This icon model can be found in the first Iron Man movie. This is the arc reactor worn by Tony Stark (aka Iron Man). In this movie, Tony's assistant, Pepper Potts, gives Tony his arc reactor back as a desktop ornament and engraves the words "proof that Tony Stark has a heart" on it. This two day print can be put together fairly easily without the use of glue. An added benefit of the model Will designed is the space in the center of the arc reactor. This space was created to make room for LED lights to make the model light up!

The Galaxy on Orion's Belt

Men in Black fans will love this replica of the galaxy that hung from the cat, Orion, in the first Men in Black movie. This replica was printed using soluble support structures. These structures dissolve in water once the print is finished, allowing for a smoother print overall. Will ended up painting the final design gold and silver to match the galaxy found in the movie.

Want to be a volunteer at the MakerLab? Apply to join the Spring 2017 MakerLab team! And don't forget! Like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter and Instagram to get the latest news.

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