UC Merced's Makerspace lab has been living up to its name recently.
The School of Engineering's lab, housed in the Sustainability Research and Engineering building, has been increasingly busy. The Makerspace offers services to courses, research and campus clubs.
Last year, Makerspace staff came to the rescue of Dining Services after a plastic bushing on the door of a cooker in the Pavilion broke. The bushing, part of a latch that holds the lid on the quarter-ton large, tilting skillet, isn't made anymore.
The replacement part was fabricated on a 3D printer in the Makerspace lab. It is believed to be the first time the technique, also known as additive manufacturing, was used to replace a machine part at a UC Merced facility.
Students, staff and faculty can make projects in the space after taking part in a roughly 30-minute training session on the equipment. Pretty quickly, they can be creating something nifty on one of the facility's printers or laser cutters.
"We really focus on making sure students get hands-on experience," said Salvador Diaz, instructional lab coordinator. "It gets very busy here during the end of the semester."
As of this spring, the Makerspace had hosted 300 students to make figurines, an airless soccer ball and even a Boba Fett helmet.
The space is free for students, staff and faculty to use for personal projects. They must pay for materials. It's not expensive - material can be purchased for $20 or $25 and turned into printing projects.
And if you can't make it to the Makerspace, the Makerspace will come to you. A new program will allow students to check out portable 3-D printers for off-site projects. Thirty printers are available and will be part of a pilot project starting this week.
"We are student-run," said Jose Morales, also an instructional lab coordinator. "We are open when we have student staff. During peak times, we'll get 15-20 students in here." The facility is typically open from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays.
A 3D printer creates by squirting out layer upon layer of melted material, following a digital blueprint of the desired shape.
"We call regular printers you'd have in an office a 2D printer," Diaz said.
The machine shop next door is also open to students. It operates in a similar yet opposite manner to the Makerspace. Users can create projects, but rather than building them out of material from scratch, they take materials and remove or carve out parts to get the desired result.
"That's subtractive manufacturing, and what we do in here is additive manufacturing," Morales said.
Campus organizations have used the Makerspace to create items for events. Miniatures of the Beginnings sculpture are a popular request. For Bobcat Day, students created tokens to give to prospective students.
"Whether you're studying engineering, art, or anything in between, our Makerspace is open to all," Diaz said. "If you can imagine it, we can help you bring it to life - no experience needed. Come learn to 3D print, create and explore what's possible."
More information on the Makerspace is available on the facility's website.
