Visiting Scholar Attends Making Things Class

Our “Making Things” class was excited to host Alex Mitchell for the past two weeks. Alex(@MarketTheory) is a PhD candidate at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada and is researching how 3D printing in specific and the hackerspace movement in general is impacting both academics and business.

According to Alex, “In most business theory, we tend to drift towards pessimism; that is, we assume that people only pursue what is in their own best interest. On the contrary, the hackerspace movement is one where the ethos is very positive – it’s all about sharing.”

This sharing orientation fits well with the mission of the Makerlab and the credo of our class – “Learn, Make, Share.” Alex was present to see how many of our ideas are in the final stages of prototyping and are beginning to come together in preparation for the end of the semester.

During his 10-day visit to our Lab, Alex interviewed all of our Gurus as well as several of our users, attended a number of events, including the recent Hack Illinois, and did some 3D design and printing of his own. Thanks for visiting, Alex!

Written by Adam Fifeld

Making Things Class begins Developing Videos

This week's Making Things class began with a lecture from John Tubbs, a digital media specialist from CITES. John discussed the process of promoting one's product using video appeals, a la Kickstarter. Video is an especially important means of promoting a new product idea and making appeals for obtaining the resources needed to bring these products to market. We are fortunate to have John's help and expertise in developing these videos for each of our products, which we will then broadcast trough various social media outlets and digital manufacturing sites such as Shapeways. We also continued to work on our product prototyping and prototype testing. After the lecture, some groups went downstairs to the BIF atrium and tested their prototypes among students and faculty. Most groups continued prototyping and making changes to their designs in an iterative manner. This is where the true strength of 3D printing lies, in the ability to quickly make changes and test them out on a week-to-week basis. Thus, this class allows students to learn in an iterative and hands-on manner.

Written by Brady Salz

3D Printing at Admitted Student's Day

The College of Fine + Applied Arts demonstrated 3D printing with MakerLab printers, to the newly admitted students at Temple Buell Hall during the welcome reception. The display was organized by Kristi Martin, the Associate Director for Recruitment, Matt McNeilly and Crystal Sheu. This partnership showed many incoming students the resources that the university has to offer  and the exciting capabilities of 3D printing.

The MakerLab attracts majors from over 20 different units across campus, including the arts, helping them “Learn, Make and Share”.  Stay tuned to us on Twitter and Facebook.

Making Things Class Refines Prototypes

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Throughout the week before spring break, the teams in our Making Things Class worked on refining our product prototypes. Based on feedback from our instructors as well as fellow classmates, we have all created several iterations of our prototypes. For example, our latest iPhone speaker (called "Boost") prototype features a deeper dock for the phone to sit in. This should improve both the fit of the phone as well as the level of sound amplification. In addition, we also redesigned our product’s legs by making them longer legs and placing them at a more relaxed angle. This new design should enhance the product’s overall stability.

Looking forward, we have also been investigating various ways to manufacture Boost at both larger volumes and a cheaper unit cost. 3D printing is a great for rapid prototyping, but has some limitations, such as low volume output for manufacturing purposes. Thus, we are considering injection molding our product because of this technique's advantage of cheaply and quickly producing mass quantities.

We had a week of rest with the Spring Break and are back to Make Things! Find out more about what our class has been doing over the semester so far.

Written by Jon Prinz

MakerLab hosts several CU area schools.

There is tremendous interest in 3D printing across industry today and in schools as well. We are pleased to host several free tours/workshops for area schools, in line with the university's mission for public engagement and outreach. We were pleased to host students from  Chrisman High school, led by Michael Davison, the Business Education/Technology Coordinator. The visit was hosted by our Guru, Ryan Hurley, a Material Science Major.  One of the students shared their experience at the lab.

Chrisman High School Computer Club had the opportunity to attend an introductory workshop at the Maker Lab. During the workshop, we were able to view a video showcasing the potential power 3-D printing offers. We were also given an explanation of the material engineering field. In addition, we were able to scan our teacher to build a template from which a 3-D model could be made. To conclude, we searched databases of printable 3-D objects. Practical, cost-affordable, and creative are just a few of the many parting thoughts we had as we reflected on our experiences of the Maker Lab. By visiting the Maker Lab, we were able to gain an insight into the manufacturing industry and a unique look at the opportunities the University of Illinois can afford.

Students from University high school, joined us during the Agora Days annual Spring event,  after working on products created by merging geometric shapes with OpenScad at our partner lab, IGL, with Noel Dejarnette. This visit was hosted by our Guru, Jeremy Copley, an Architecture Major.

Earlier in the year, we hosted middle school students from Countryside School in Champaign, in partnership with Illinois Geometry Lab.  It turns out that this technology appeals to a much younger audience too. We look forward to hosting Cub Scouts from 1st to 4th grade from Monticello on April 3rd.

If you are interested in organizing class visits to the lab, drop us a line at uimakerlab AT illinois DOT edu. If you are interested in summer programs at the Lab, we will be available to meet at the Champaign Public Library event to support Home School families.  Details on the workshops will be finalized by middle of april. Sign up for alerts from our Blog by email, or connect with us on  twitter or Facebook to get updates.

MakerLab and UI Innovate at EOH

This past Friday the MakerLab partnered up with student organization, UI-Innovate, to share the magic of 3D printing at the Engineering Open House. Each year Engineering Open House attracts thousands of people to learn about innovations at the university and from corporate partners. UI-Innovate heads Jake Smolin and Danny Lohan demonstrated the functionality of the Makerbot to interested visitors by printing Illinois Keychains and Eiffel Towers, and shared how engineering majors are working in a lab in a College of Business and helping people make things. Both children and adults alike marveled at the new dimension of the world that 3D printing revealed .

Find out what others are making at the Lab, and come make something.  The makerlab attracts majors from over 20 different units across campus, helping them “Learn, Make and Share”.  Stay tuned to us on twitter or Facebook.