New colors are in! Our Lab has recently expanded its array of plastic filament to include silver, gold, brown, and neon orange! These colors, and many more, are available from Inventables, a company founded by University of Illinois alum, Zach Kaplan. In the coming weeks, we plan to expand our color palette even further and are open to requests from our maker community.
We have finally moved to our new lab location in 3030 Business Administration Facility! Our new space is bigger, brighter, and equipped with more digital making equipment, including 12 MakerBot Replicator 3D Printers, a MakerBot Digitizer Scanner, a Kinect Scanner, 6 computers, and a one 2D printer. We are open for business and ready to serve the needs of a larger user base. To celebrate our new lab and recognize the generosity of Dean DeBrock for providing us with this great new location, we will be holding a Grand Opening Event on Friday, October 18 from 10am to 2pm. We will be giving away plenty of 3D goodies and offering a free demonstration of 3D design, scanning, and printing. Please stop by and see how the MakerLab can help you capture the power and promise of 3D printing!
On Thursday, October 10, Aric Rindfleisch, Executive Director of the Illinois MakerLab will be visiting Chicago to discuss the 3D printing revolution and how the College of Business at the University of Illinois is taking a leadership role in this domain through the establishment of the world's first (and only) business school 3D printing lab, the Illinois MakerLab. For more information and to make a reservation to attend this event, just click on the announcement below. We hope to see you there.
The MakerLab will be participating in two upcoming local enterprise fairs. On Friday, September 20, 2013, we will participate in the University of Illinois Research Park's annual Prototyping Fair. This event showcases regional resources for product development and prototyping and will be held at the EnterpriseWorks Building at 60 Hazelwood Drive in Champaign.
Then, on Saturday, September 21, 2013, we will participate in the Urbana-Champaign Mini Maker Faire. This event highlights Urbana-Champaign's growing maker community and will have plenty of hands-on activities. This is a great event for families and a nice forum to learn how to make something. The Maker Faire will be held at the Independent Media Center at 202 S. Broadway in Urbana.
At both of these events, our Guru's will be sporting their Orange maker t-shirts and will bring along a 3D printer and some of the neat things that we have made with this fascinating technology. Please stop by and say hi.
The MakerLab is proud to announce that Ideal Jacobs, a multinational corporation that specializes in graphic overlays, injection molding, laser cut components, and rapid prototyping, is the supplier of our new build surface. Ideal Jacobs is headquartered in New Jersey and has operations across the US, Mexico, Netherlands, Malaysia, and China. One of Ideal Jacob's recent innovations is a revolutionary new 3D printing build surface called BuildTak. Compared to traditional 3D build surface materials such as kapton tape or blue painter's tape, BuildTak provides better adhesion and virtually eliminates curling. In addition, it is very easy to apply (and remove) to a build plate and is extremely durable. On top of all this, it can be customized with your choice of color and imprinted with your organization's logo. Here are some photos of the customized BuildTak surface that Ideal Jacobs created for the MakerLab. We have equipped all of our 3D printers with these customized BuildTak surfaces and have enjoyed many hours of hassle free printing. Thus, we enthusiastically recommend BuildTak and can't imagine using any other build surface. Adios blue tape!
Our new Lab in the Business Instructional Facility is nearing completion! The only remaining renovation work is the installation of the flooring. Once the floor is in, the furnishings (including a 70 inch flat screen monitor) will be put in place. We are still hoping for a September 1 move in date! In the meantime, our current lab location in the Surveying Building will be open (hours are listed on our homepage). So, please stop by and make something!
Learn. Make. Share.
