Meet the Maker : Austin Keating

Sometimes you can settle for a $20 lamp from Target, but other times, you want something more. Recently, an amateur Maker came to the Makerlab to look at his options.Austin Keating, a Junior at the University of Illinois, came to the lab in September and found what he was looking for on thingiverse: A Jigsaw Puzzle Lamp. As a Journalism major without any experience in modeling, Austin said he found the undertaking was easy, with the help of Makerlab staff. He said he looks forwarding to making more, and views his experience as an entry point into building his own designs. Based on his experience he also signed up for the "Digital Making" course for Spring 2015

http://youtu.be/vhWaXygF3eI

Meet our other makers . Stay tuned for updates by subscribing to our blog feed, or just get our posts via email. You can also like us on Facebook or follow us on twitter to stay updated. Have an interesting story about making at the lab? Just drop us a note at UIMakerLab@illinois.edu.

Things we Make: Eiffel Tower

We are often asked, "Can you make a large object using a 3D printer?" This is a good question. Although most of the objects that our users make are fairly small, it is possible to make large items using the printers in our Lab. Our MakerBot Replicator 2 printers have a print capacity of 410 cubic inches (11.2 L x 6.0 W x 6.1 H) or about the size of a small loaf of bread. We can also make objects larger than this by printing separate parts than can be fit together. For example, this summer, we printed a model of the Eiffel Tower than stands This model was designed by LeFab Shop in Paris and is freely available via Thingiverse. It is composed of seven different parts, which were individually printed and then glued together, and once assembled, stands over 24 inches tall! We have this tower proudly displayed near the entrance of our Lab. Stop by and have a look!

Things We Make: World Cup Mascots

This summer, World Cup Fever spread to the MakerLab. Since many of our users are soccer fans, we regularly broadcasted World Cup games. In addition, Guru Kevin printed a set of World Cup Mascots. These mascots were designed by Ultimaker, downloaded from YouMagine, and printed in our Lab. Pictured below are the mascots for the Netherlands (Orange), United States (Brown), Brazil (Green), and Portugal (Red). Stop by our Lab this fall to make your own mascots or anything else that you can imagine!

MakerLabbers Make RGB Trippy Wave Lights

This past weekend, the MakerLab hosted a special workshop led by Mitch Altman. Mitch (and Illinois alum) is Co-Founder of Noisebridge (one of the first hackerspaces in the US) and CEO of Cornfield Electronics (maker of TV-B-Gone). Mitch, who travels the world teaching people how to make things, as been an artist at resident here at Illinois for the past two weeks). In this workshop, Mitch taught a group of MakerLabbers how to create a battery-operated LED light device that flashes various colors (using the Red-Blue-Green color spectrum). This device has an infrared sensor that restarts the color pattern when a hand is waved over it. Using soldering irons, we connected a set of resistors, capacitors, controllers, lights, and a battery to a circuit board. Making these light kits was great fun and relatively easy and is a great illustration of how making things (including electronic devices) on your own can be an alternative to buying things in a store.

Please see our events listing for information about other workshops that we plan to hold this semester. You can sign up to be a member as well, to get invites to exclusive events and get some discounts on your prints. We hope to see you there.

Things we Make: Altgeld Hall

In recent months, our Lab has received lots of requests to make things for various units across our campus. Most recently, the Illinois Geometry Lab asked us to print 20 copies (Orange & Blue) of Altgeld Hall. This is one of the most iconic buildings on our campus. If you would like your own copy of Altgeld Hall, just stop by our lab and we can print one for you! If you have models of other buildings that you would like to print, we'd love to add them to our collection as well.

Make your own Christmas Gifts!

Christmas is the season of giving. The things that we give to our friends and family during the holiday season are typically bought in a store and manufactured in a distant land. 3D Printing disrupts this pattern by empowering individuals to make (rather than buy) gifts. There is no need to go to a store since the manufacturing can now be done on your desktop!

As an example of this self-manufactured gifts, one of our Makers printed this giant Lego figurine (designed by Skimbal) for his son. This figurine is composed of seven different parts, which are printed in blue, red and yellow. Just like a real Lego, the head, hands, and legs have full range of motion and can be disassembled. The finished product is shown inside one of the MakerLab's Replicator 2 printers to add a dramatic background!

If you had a 3D printer, what would you make as a gift? If you don't own a 3D printer, no problem. You can stop by and use one of ours. The MakerLab is currently closed for the Holidays but will reopen on Tuesday, January 21.