Things we Make: Replacement Parts

Many visitors to the MakerLab are intrigued by 3D printing technology but wonder how they could apply this new tool in their daily lives. One emerging application is replacement parts. For example, Swedish synthesizer manufacturer, Teenage Engineering, has replacement parts available via Shapeways. In addition to printing parts offered by manufacturers, if you have access to 3D design software and a desktop 3D printer, you can design and make your own parts!  This capability is particularly valuable if you are trying to obtain parts for an object that has been discontinued by the manufacturer. This happened recently to one of our friends, who owns a unique Sears Craftsman weedwacker that uses plastic blades instead of the traditional spool of plastic string. Our friend ran out of the original set of blades that came with the weedwacker. Unfortunately, Sears no longer carried this product or any of its parts. Fortunately, the MakerLab came to the rescue! MakerLab guru Danny used a shard from an original blade to design and print a suitable replacement on a Makerbot Replicator 2 printer. As a result, a defunct lawn tool was revived and given a second life. How many times has something like this happened to you? By gaining 3D printing skills, you may be able to replace rather than rebuy!

Come make something in the MakerLab this summer. We are open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12:00 to 5:00.

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Things We Make

Cuddling Owls (Thingiverse Thing 50212, Designed by Moses) Super cute. Makes a great gift for a close friend.

Meet the Makers: Martina Pillay and John Jacobs

When you think of 3D printing, what types of students come to mind? Architecture majors, Engineers? Indeed, both types of students have been frequent visitors to the MakerLab. However, our lab has also attracted considerable interest from students across the University of Illinois, including majors in art & design, accounting, and finance. These students are eager to learn more about the Maker Movement and are interested in turning their ideas into reality. For this Meet the Makers spotlight, we introduce Martina Pillay and John Jacobs. Both Martina and John are seniors in Bioengineering and used the Lab's 3D printers to help complete their senior design project.

"For our senior design project, we were creating a device for GFP (Green fluorescent protein) detection in mice. We needed some sort of 3D printed casing to support the circuit and batteries for our device. 3D printing provided an affordable and simple method of designing our own case."

Come make something in the MakerLab this summer. We are open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12:00 to 5:00.

Meet the Maker: Ben Riggins

Ben Riggins is an electrical engineering major, and a DIY enthusiast. He came to the MakerLab to build a faceplate to mount some cool electronics in his car.

"I'm building a device which will be mounted in my car's dashboard to display things like the temperature, the direction, and weather forecast information. It is connected to a Bluetooth module to communicate with my phone. The MakerLab allowed me to design and print a custom faceplate to mount the LCD screen and buttons. I've always felt limited to the parts I could make myself, but now so many things are possible. Thanks MakerLab!"

We encourage experimentation with electronics and open hardware in the Lab. To assist users, the Lab is equipped with Raspberry PI's and MakeyMakey Kits. One of the projects our lab guru, Danny, is working on is to enable queueing of prints on our 3D printers, using the Raspberry Pi. Send us a note using the contact form if you would like to work with him over summer on this or other fun electronics projects.

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Art, Design, and the MakerLab, Oh My!

When you hear the term 3D printing, a lot of things may come to mind such as rapid prototyping or do-it-yourself projects but what about art and design? As an art and design major (and DIY enthusiast) I was ecstatic to learn of the Illinois MakerLab's existence. What I love about the lab is the ability to create practically anything from imagination and bring it to life. There is something about physically holding my ideas that really inspires me to create more, and I'm not alone. I talked to several other art majors who also discovered the lab about what they created and thought about the lab:

The Illinois Makerlab is awesome. It was the only place on campus where I could get something printed with clear plastic without a crazy 3-week turnaround time. I regret not taking advantage of their facilities more during the semester.

- Andy Gao

My experience at the Makers Lab was great, as the process was quick and easy. The finished projects are well made and the best part is that it was free!

- Autumn Hayes

The lab was a really cool place for students to 3D print and the staff is really friendly and helpful too.

- Josh Lebovitz

I was also able to print a few of my own projects.

I think that this lab has truly helped many art and design students bring their ideas into reality. It is an amazing resource for student's while they are here at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I hope that many more art students will discover the possibilities that this lab brings!

Students Photocopy Objects with their iPhones!

On Friday, April 5, nearly 20 University of Illinois students stopped by the MakerLab to learn how to photocopy objects with their iPhones. This session was taught by Katie Khau, a UI student in Art & Design and a MakerLab Trainer. Katie demonstrated how to photocopy objects using the new iPhone app, 123D Catch (www.123dapp.com/catch). As part of this demonstration, Katie printed out a small scale photocopy of a 3D printed replica of Rodin's "The Thinker" (www.thingiverse.com/thing:34343). She has also put up a tutorial, if you want to try this. If you have questions, please post on our Forums

In the coming months, we plan to offer more training sessions such as this. Our next session is a tutorial on Google Sketchup on Friday, April 19 from 12:00-1:00pm. To RSVP, email us at uimakerlab@illinois.edu or signup on facebook. Subscribe to our blog RSS feed to be the first to hear about events and other exciting news from MakerLab.

Katie shows her scan of The Thinker