"Making Things" Class

During the upcoming Spring 2014 semester, Professor Aric Rindfleisch, Executive Director of the Illinois MakerLab will be teaching a new class in which teams of undergraduate students from Business, Engineering, and Art & Design will work together to conceptualize, design, prototype, manufacturer and market a new product. This class (BADM 395: Making Things), which was recently featured in both the Daily Illini and Illinois Public Radio will be taught in the MakerLab at 5-8pm on Wednesday and will make use of the Lab's digital design software, 3D printers, and 3D scanners. If you are interested in taking this course and are a junior or senior in Business, Engineering, and Art & Design, please contact Professor Rindfleisch (aric AT illinois DOT edu) for more information.

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MakerLab Featured in Smile Politely

The MakerLab is in the news again.  Hannah Pitstick recently published a wonderful account of our recent grand opening in Smile Politely, Champaign-Urbana's Online Magazine. Hannah did a great job of capturing the magic of 3D printing and how our efforts to bring this magic to the Champaign-Urbana community. Although our lab is housed at the Business Instructional Facility on the U of I campus, our services are available to anyone. Thus, you don't need to be an Illinois student or a faculty to experience the wonders of 3D printing. So, if you would like to give 3D printing a try, just stop on by!

Learn, Make, Share at the MakerLab on Fridays

On Fridays from 11:00 to 12:00, the MakerLab will be holding workshops on a variety of digital making topics including, 3D scanning, 3D printing, and how to tinker with open hardware. A list of scheduled workshops is available at http://makerlab.illinois.edu/events/ If you have skills in 3D modeling/printing or in working with open hardware (arduinos, raspberry pi's, etc) and would like to offer a workshop, please contact us at UIMakerLab AT illinois DOT edu. 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 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.

New Filament Colors from Inventables

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.

Grand Opening of our New Lab (October 18)

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!