Designed and Printed at the Lab- Sink Stopper

What will you make? This is the first question asked when arriving at the MakerLab. In this case, the answer to that question was a sink stopper. Phil Calhoun came in to 3D print a prototype of a modified sink stopper. He had made a prototype in his garage, but needed a refined protototype that he could pitch to firms that sell plumbing equipment. He hoped to later sell the patent rights of the sink stopper to a plumbing manufacturer. The MakerLab was more that willing to help Mr. Calhoun achieve his goal. Our guru, Scott Zelman, took charge of this project by digitally designing the model that Mr. Calhoun wanted to print.  We printed the model, but could not get the accuracy we need with the FDM machines, so we outsourced the printing of model to the rapid prototyping lab in Engineering. Unfortunately, we can not share any photos of the sink stopper, due to confidentiality issues, but Mr. Calhoun was kind enough to say a few words about his project. Watch the video below to learn more about his #designstory at the MakerLab. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x3r8C9IdYQ&feature=youtu.be[/embed]

Check out our other stories or create a new one by stopping by the MakerLab. Having trouble making your design come to life? Contact us for help ! And don’t forget to like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

3D Printed Torso

24. That is the number of ribs in a human body. It is also the number of ribs on a 3D printed design a visitor came in to print. He is printing an infant rib cage that can be used as a mold for an infant's torso. This print took many hours to print due to the all the support structures need to ensure that the rib cage printed correctly.

Check out our design stories or create a new one by stopping by the MakerLab. Having trouble making your design come to life? Contact us for help at UIMakerLab@Illinois.edu! And don’t forget to like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

Take a Selfie with Max- and win a $50 full body scan and print

  Take a Selfie with Max during the reading day Brunch with the deans (Dec 8th from 10:30 to 11:30 am) in the BIF Commons area, and win a  $50 full body scan and print.

We will bring Max to the brunch and all of you can take selfies with him(and perhaps the dean's if they are game). Share your selfies and get friends to like it, and you could win a full body scan for yourself and a 8 inch 3d print of the scan, worth $50! Read the rules below and join us!

Contest Rules

1. The contest starts at 10:30 am Thursday December 8th US Central time and ends at Friday December 9th at 11:59 am US Central time.
2. Take a selfie with Max, and post it on your instagram account. Tag us @uimakerlab and use the hashtags #makerlabGiveaway . Follow us on instagram . Make sure your account is public during the competition, if you want us to be able to see the posts.
3. Get your friends to like the post. The person with the most likes by the deadline(Friday December 9th at 11:59 am US Central time)  wins the prize
4. The winner gets a full body scan and an eight inch 3d print of the scan, worth $50.

Winners will be announced by Monday December 12 on our Instagram account, and we will tag the winner.

Online #3dprinting now available for all #illini

We are pleased to launch online ordering with our partner 3dhubs. You can order online until Dec 13th 2016 at our new 3d printing hub  , even though we are closed for regular walk-in hours after Dec 7th. Once you order, one of our guru’s will arrange time for pickup. We have a shipping service as well. Save 25% on our online rates for students by registering at https://www.3dhubs.com/students. You must register before taking advantage of this discount. The rates are different from our in person walk-in rates, but with the discount and the convenience of our guru’s making sure everything works and you get a perfect print, we hope you find the service useful.

We will reopen with regular walk-in hours in Spring on January 23rd.

Have a question? Drop us a line

Volunteer Spotlight- Will Jones

The MakerLab volunteers are a really important part of the lab. They help day-to-day welcoming makers, and assist with workshops and fixing printers.  Today, we will introduce you to one of our volunteers, Will Jones!

Will is currently a freshman in the Division of General Studies. He is hoping to transfer into Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering next year. Will first came to the MakerLab to print a mount for his GoPro camera. Once he figured out about the opportunity to volunteer here, he signed right up! Since then Will has been an instrumental part of the MakerLab team. He is currently working on getting a 3D workshop using a program known as Mathematica up and running. Mathematica, much as its name infers, uses math to create 3D objects that can then be printed. Will has also done a lot of printing on his own. Just recently Will submitted two prints for a cosplay contest in 3D printing.

Proof that Tony Stark has a heart

This icon model can be found in the first Iron Man movie. This is the arc reactor worn by Tony Stark (aka Iron Man). In this movie, Tony's assistant, Pepper Potts, gives Tony his arc reactor back as a desktop ornament and engraves the words "proof that Tony Stark has a heart" on it. This two day print can be put together fairly easily without the use of glue. An added benefit of the model Will designed is the space in the center of the arc reactor. This space was created to make room for LED lights to make the model light up!

 The Galaxy on Orion's Belt

Men in Black fans will love this replica of the galaxy that hung from the cat, Orion, in the first Men in Black movie. This replica was printed using soluble support structures. These structures dissolve in water once the print is finished, allowing for a smoother print overall. Will ended up painting the final design gold and silver to match the galaxy found in the movie.

Want to be a volunteer at the MakerLab? Apply to join the Spring 2017 MakerLab team! And don't forget! Like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter and Instagram to get the latest news.

Supporting the #NationOfMakers

The lab was fortunate to be part of the inaugural cohort of schools, that pledged support for the White House, Nation of Makers initiative.    The Nation of Makers is a new organization coming together to continue the work that President Obama started.  We are thrilled to pledge our support to the organization, with this letter of support.

Dear Nation of Makers,

As the world's first 3D Printing Lab in a Business School, we are delighted to endorse and support the further development of the Maker Movement.

The continued cultivation of a Nation of Makers is an important and tangible development of President Obama's visionary initiative. We strongly believe that this movement will help usher in a new economic era in which a growing number of people will be able to turn their ideas into objects. This democratization of making will create new opportunities in terms of education, entrepreneurship, and workforce development.

At our Lab, we have seen the transformative potential of making firsthand and witnessed the magic that comes from being able to turn an idea into an object in a supportive and collaborative environment. We believe that the development of a Nation of Makers will help spread this empowering experience across our great nation.

As part of this wider educational goal, our Lab recently launched a new Coursera specialization focused on 3D Printing (https://www.coursera.org/specializations/3d-printing) . This specialization, which is in collaboration with Autodesk and Ultimaker provides learners from around the world with training about several aspects of 3D Printing. The materials in this course are freely available to anyone. Thus, we hope that it is helpful in advancing our collective goals.

In sum, the Illinois MakerLab is strongly committed to the further development of this worthy initiative!

Sincerely,

Aric Rindfleisch

Executive Director

Vishal Sachdev

Director