Hello everyone,

The first week of the Fall semester has finished with a bang!  It is exciting to see the parking lots fill-up, student taking classes, milling the walls, and a healthy feel to the Wayne College campus.  Even outside the 3D Lab, we are “making” new things all over campus.  Stop-in to check-out our nursing and early education program areas, the Bring-your-own-device Lab, and coming soon, a Game Room for students to play board games, video games, and hang-out.

In case you haven’t heard, the 3D Lab is open for student and community member use!  We continue to provide free-to-use equipment, materials, and services for the community, an open lab for homework and personal projects, and staff available for assistance. 

Here are some of the many projects that you can make in the 3D Lab: 3D Printing, Laser Engraving/Cutting, Vinyl Decals & Stickers, Button Making, CNC Woodcarving, Custom T-Shirts, Full-color Mugs, Photo-quality Prints, Large Posters, 3D Scanning, Metal Bending/Shearing, and more.  Click here for a complete list of equipment.

Feel free to stop-by if you have a project that we can assist with.  Our hours are 8:00 a.m. – 7:30 p.m., Monday-Thursday and 8:00-4:00 on Friday.  While walk-in service is available, we encourage you to call ahead to ensure that support staff is ready and available to help with your projects.  Groups are welcome, too, given prior notice.

We also take 3D printing on the road!  We will demonstrate 3D printing how “making” builds careers, and promote Wayne College to your schools, community groups, etc.

Over the summer, the button maker was put to good use by Susan Corl, senior lecturer of developmental and elementary educations programs at Wayne College.  It’s an easy process, simply print a color design with a regular printer, cut them into circular shapes, then stamp them into buttons!  Susan made 300 of them to encourage students who are early education majors. 

Need to promote something?  Making buttons is free!  Stop-by the 3D Lab to learn how.

Former Wayne College student Ben Engle has been doing gigantic things since he graduated several years ago.  Back then, he built a wooden CNC wood carving machine from scrap parts, graduating to an aluminum machine that was turned into a build-your-own workshop for Schantz Makerspace members after that.  Today, Ben is into big, heavy machines for machining metal.  We’re talking on the order of 1,000 pounds!

A machine of this magnitude is necessary as metal is a difficult material to cut/carve properly.  Ben sourced new and used parts to build the machine from scratch including some serious stepper motors and a professional, older CNC controller repurposed for a new life!  He used an engine crane to position components in-place.  The frame is filled with all the epoxy granite, minimizing vibrations to make dimensionally perfect parts.

Reply to this email to learn more about Ben’s CNC!

Over the summer, kids from LifeCare Hospice in Wooster visited the 3D Lab, becoming almost a yearly tradition.  We teach them how to use the laser engraver to make mementos for lost loved ones.  And what a crowd we had, including emotional support dogs! 

Using materials provided by P. Graham Dunn, kids engraved names, pictures, and text onto photo frames that were filled with photos printed on-site.   It was a wonderful experience for everyone involved.  We look forward to helping more with this LifeCare Hospice in the future!

Until next week,

Tom