Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
We inform. You decide.
Thursday, March 28, 2024

UF’s 3-D printing labs are looking to increase student use.

Marston Science Library, the Health Science Center Library and the A² Fab Lab, located in the Architecture building, all have 3-D printers and scanners available for student use.

John Wheeler, intern at the digital fabrication lab and UF mechanical engineering second-year graduate student, said increased student use would bring in more funds.  

“We do a lot of fairs and different events on campus to reach out and get everybody aware that we exist,” the 22-year-old said. “We’re always trying to streamline our process and always trying to expand so there is more opportunity for students.”

 

In 2012, the Fab Lab became the first printing lab in the area to allow students and residents to make 3-D prints, according to UF’s website.

Students can use the lab inside the School of Architecture for $120 a semester, where other students of different colleges pay $140, Wheeler said. Membership includes 24-hour access to the lab and the three laser cutters and file printing Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Marston Science Library and the Health Science Center Libraries have no membership fees. Instead, students pay 6 cents per gram of material and 2 cents per minute with a $3 minimum, according to the George A. Smathers Libraries website.

The Fab Lab houses five 3-D printers, one 3-D scanner and one three-axis CNC router, which is a controlled cutting machine.

Wheeler said that the lab keeps two consumer-grade printers, each costing about $2,000, one slightly larger printer that cost $7,000 and two professional 3-D printers ranging in cost from $50,000 to $80,000.

The Fab Lab and the libraries are taking steps to make the printers and scanners more user-friendly for students.

“They make it really easy for you to use (the machines). The hardest part is to make your models in the computer,” said 25-year-old Richard O’Donnell, a UF aerospace engineering second-year graduate student.

Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox

The lab is planning on expanding in March, Wheeler said.

They are renting out four to five rooms in the Infinity Hall currently being built, which will be situated in the Innovation Hub.

[A version of this story ran on page 9 on 10/27/2014]

Support your local paper
Donate Today
The Independent Florida Alligator has been independent of the university since 1971, your donation today could help #SaveStudentNewsrooms. Please consider giving today.

Powered by SNworks Solutions by The State News
All Content © 2024 The Independent Florida Alligator and Campus Communications, Inc.