"Make" it a Merry Christmas by Making Ornaments at the Lab

Come by the lab and make some programmable LED lit ornaments and pick up the block I ornaments to show your Illini spirit this christmas . Or you can pick any ornament from this list and make away merrily Tuesday, December 17, from 2:00 to 6:30 is the last chance to make ornaments before we close for winter break.

A limited number of Block I ornaments(orange color) are pre-printed and available to purchase for $1 each. if you need significant quantities, drop us a line at UIMakerLab AT illinois DOT edu, , so that we can have them ready for you tomorrow.

Mark Rivera gets Scanned & Printed

Last Friday, WAND (Decatur, IL) news reporter, Mark Rivera stopped by the MakerLab to learn about 3D printing. During his visit Mark was scanned using our new Sense handheld 3D scanner (made by 3D Systems). Here is a photo of Mark with his digital image on the screens in the background.

After the scan was complete, we sliced it using MakerWare and then printed it out on one of our MakerBot 3D printers. Here is a photo of the completed print.

We then sent Mark his "Mini-Me." Here is a photo of Mark and his 3D printed figurine taken in the WAND news office. This photo is also shown on his Facebook account, in case you would like to send Mark a comment.

Mark's story about his visit to our Lab will be airing on Thursday morning (December 12) between 6:30 and 7:00am on WAND TV (Channel 17, NBC). So please tune in!

Things we Make: Thor's Hammer

Thor: The Dark World, is a current box office smash and a favorite film for many in our Lab. Thus, in anticipation of its release, we printed our very own Mjölnir (Thor's Hammer). This hammer was designed by Skimbal and downloaded from Thingiverse.

This is a two-part print. The head of the hammer was printed using silver PLA and took over 17 hours!

The shaft of the hammer was printed on another machine, which was loaded with brown PLA. This print took about 6 hours.

Once both prints were completed, all that was left was to slide the shaft into the head. and presto, we have a hammer!

If you would like your very own Thor's hammer, just stop by the MakerLab. We are open Monday to Friday.

Join the Maker movement at Illinois. Subscribe to our blog RSS feed to be the first to hear about events, new tutorials, and other exciting news from the MakerLab.  Or Like our Facebook page to stay connected and follow us on Twitter.

3D Printed Wooden Objects!

One of the questions that visitors to our Lab often ask is: "What types of materials can be 3D printed?" Most are surprised to hear that 3D printers can print a wide range of materials, including plastics, metals, ceramics, paper, food, and even biomaterials. However, most desktop 3D printers have been traditionally limited to various types of thermoplastics. For example, the MakerBot Replicator 2 printers used in our Lab mainly make objects out of PLA, which is a corn-based polymer. Although this material can be used to print a variety of both fun and useful objects, an expanded array of materials are in the process of development. We have begun to experiment with new materials. For example, we recently acquired a wood-based polymer called Laywoo from Inventables. This new material is fed through our printers just like plastic but produces objects that look like they were carved from wood! The photos below show a spool of this material and a wooden gnome that was printed from this material.

If you would like to print something out of wood (or plastic), stop by our Lab!

3D Printer Repairs 2D Printer

Earlier this month, one of our faculty members had a problem that is common to many of us: His 2D Printer stopped printing! Upon closer inspection, he realized that one of the small plastic guides above the paper tray was broken. Unfortunately, a replacement guide was not available from the manufacturer. Normally, when this type of situation occurs, we would end up buying a new printer.  However, in this case, our intrepid faculty member enlisted the help of the MakerLab. He gave one of our Gurus the broken guide, which the Guru then used to design a replacement part using 3D modeling software and then printed the newly designed replacement using one of our 3D printers. The entire process took less than one hour and the cost of the materials was about 10 cents. With the help of one of our highly skilled computer technicians, our faculty member was able to attach the newly printed guide and his 3D repaired 2D printer was back in business!

This is another great example of how 3D printing can extend the life of the things we own by enabling us to repair broken equipment rather than replacing it with something new. Why spend $250 for a new printer when you can repair it for less than 10 cents?

Our Professor's 2D Printer

The broken part is on the right and the newly created 3D replacement is on the left.

The installed 3D printer replacement part (on the left) .

Join the Maker movement at Illinois. Subscribe to our blog RSS feed to be the first to hear about events, new tutorials, and other exciting news from the MakerLab and Like our Facebook page.

Things we Make: Adjustable Wrench

One of the most impressive aspects of 3D printing is the capability to create complex mechanical objects with moving parts in a single print. Unlike traditional manufacturing techniques which produce component parts that must be put together, with 3D printing, there is no assembly required! To illustrate this feature, we have recently begun to use our 3D printers to produce adjustable wrenches that actually adjust! The process is simple: We just download the design file from Thingiverse (Thing 139268 by barspin), put it on an SD card, insert the card into one of our MakerBot Replicators, and hit print.  We then sit back and watch, and 40 minutes later, we have a fully functional adjustable wrench. To see our wrench in action, stop on by our lab. Or if you have a 3D printer, a laptop, and an internet connection, you can print your own.  Welcome to the future!