MakerLab obtains Corporate Support

Over the past couple of months, the MakerLab has obtained significant support from a number of corporations. JP Morgan executives (including alum Jason Mueller) visited the lab this past fall and provided us with a sizable financial gift in support of our operations. This gift was followed by an innovation grant from Procter & Gamble to support our new Making Things class. Most recently, Intel (via assistance from the Illinois Electrical Engineering Dept) provided our Lab with five new Galileo micro-controller boards. These boards will enable our users to create smart products by integrating 3D printing and embedded computing. We are grateful to JP Morgan, P&G, and Intel for their generous support. These visionary firms clearly see the potential of the emerging maker movement. If you need more information about the ways our Lab seeks to engage with corporations, please review our corporate opportunities guide.

Looking Back and Moving Forward

2013 was a busy year in the World’s First Business School 3D Printing Lab and the New Year promises to be even busier. Here are some highlights of what we’ve done thus far and the new initiatives on our agenda:

2013 Highlights

• In February, the MakerLab opened with six 3D printers in a 300 square foot space in the Surveying Building. In September, the Lab moved to its new location in the Business Instructional Facility. Our new Lab is over 500 square feet and is equipped with twelve 3D printers, six computers, three 3D scanners, and a 70 inch monitor. We are grateful to Dean Larry DeBrock for his support of our lab and for providing us this great new space.
• During 2013, our lab hosted over 1,000 users (walk-ins and at special events), who printed over 100 pounds of thermoplastic. This is equivalent to 2,500 iPhone cases! During this time we put over 5000 hours on our printers.
• Our Lab was selected as one of four destinations on campus to host key donors during the recent U of I Foundation Weekend.
• We received a $6,900 Innovation Grant from Procter & Gamble and a $1,000 donation from an alum who works for JP Morgan.
• We offered a series of free workshops on such topics as How to Create 3D Designs, How to Scan Objects with your iPhone and How to Create your Own Electronics.
• We formed an Advisory Board. Our first two board members are Erwin Cruz (Director of Innovation for Grainger) and Zach Kaplan (Founder and CEO of Inventables).
• We received a significant amount Media Coverage.
• Finally, we also made several interesting things and featured some Makers as well.

2014 Initiatives

• We will be giving presentations about our Lab at key alumni events in Phoenix & Tucson, Arizona and Naples, Florida.
• We will open a MakerLab Store, which will sell objects printed in our lab.
• We plan to hold a 3D printing conference on campus in either late April or early May.
• We will be teaching an innovative new course ("Making Things"). This course will be taught in our lab and will ask teams of students from business, engineering and design to conceptualize, design, prototype, manufacture, and market a new object.

We are thankful for the support that we have received from faculty, students, alumni, and friends. We are happy that we have been able to make an important impact during our first year as the World’s First 3D Printing Lab and look forward to what the new year will bring!

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.

"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.

MakerLab Featured on TV (Once Again)

The MakerLab was featured in a news report about the Maker Movement that recently aired on WAND (Channel 17, NBC) TV. This report features Executive Director, Aric Rindfleisch and Guru, Danny Lohan. As noted in this report, our lab is at the forefront of the new manufacturing economy, and has garnered significant media coverage as a result. The lab is open to students, faculty and the CU community. [youtube=http://youtu.be/qApB4AbvuFE]

Join the Maker Movement by stopping by for a visit! 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 and follow us on Twitter to stay connected.

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!