Come See the MakerLab at Local Fairs

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.

MakerLab Featured in German Business Magazine

The MakerLab is once again in the news. This time in Germany! The leading German Marketing Magazine, absatzwirtschaft published a recent story on the maker movement and prominently featured our lab. Unfortunately, we forgot most of our high school German, so we are looking for translation help from some German speakers. Danke Schon!

Things we Make: Dalek

One of the main characters in the hit British television program, Doctor Who is the Dalek, a race of extraterrestrial cyborgs that seek to take over the universe. One of our Makers is a big Doctor Who fan and created a 3D printed version of a Dalek. "Exterminate!"

What fictional character would you like to bring to life via a 3D printer?

Our New Build Surface: BuildTak (by Ideal Jacobs)

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!

Nearly Ready!

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!

Things we Make: University Keychains

The MakerLab receives many requests from students and faculty for 3D design and printing assistance. One recent request was from Greg Fisher, a marketing doctoral student here at Illinois. Later this week, Greg will be interviewing for a job as an assistant professor at a number of universities, including Marquette, Missouri, North Carolina State, Notre Dame, and Wyoming. During his interview, Greg plans to discuss some of his recent research on the factors that influence user adoption of 3D printed objects. Thus, he felt it would be nice to have a 3D printed object that he could leave behind after each interview. Greg supplied our Lab with a set of 2D logos for each school. Our intrepid MakerLab Guru, Danny developed 3D designs based on scans of these logos and then printed them using our MakerBot Replicator 3D printers. The result is a memorable souvenir of Greg's talk. How can 3D printing enhance your career?