Overview:
The fabrication space of the Digital Scholarship Hub offers a variety of equipment to fabricate 3 dimensional objects (CNC Machine, Large Format Printer, Vacuform, Laser Cutter, 3D Scanner, Embroidery Machine, Sewing Machine, 3D Printers, Dremel Hand Tools, Vinyl Cutter). The equipment is available to fabricate objects for academic use to any UIC student, faculty or staff. For some equipement, you will be required to supply the material in which to fabricate the material. Materials must meet the specifications specified in the Hub's documentation. In order to fabricate objects in the fabrication space, you must book a consult. The Lab also offers consultation services to aid with your design.
Lab offers consultation services. The consultation is a time to ask questions, have a brief introduction to Tinkercad or other software, and to ensure the viability of your project and the tools and resources we have. Please do not come to the consultation with the expectation that you will leave with a printed object. Printing can take anywhere from 5 minutes to two days depending on the size, fill and complexity of the object. Scheduling a consultation when the project is first assigned or when a deadline is initially developed is key to ensuring your object can be printed.
Please only reserve 30 minutes for your consultation
Tools:
We recommend using Autodesk Inventor for creating the 3D design. It’s a free software which can be obtained from Autodesk using the link below. Autodesk is windows only software. Mac users need emulation software such as Bootcamp or Parallels to run this. Tinkercad or Fusion 360 are other free online tool to create 3D designs.
https://www.autodesk.com/education/free-software/featured
File Formats:
To learn more about the prefered file formats and approved materials, please review our documenation. Makers space staff will gladly assist you in printing any parts necessary for class projects or prototyping purposes.
Fabrication takes place during regular service hours: 10 AM - 6 PM Monday- Friday. Fabricated objects will be ready within 1-5 business days, depending on length of queue.
“A lack of planning on your part doesn’t constitute an emergency on mine.”
Please submit a .stl file (no larger than 25MB) to the Digitalscholarship lab via email (digitalscholarship@uic.edu) or USB. Upon acceptance, your request will be added to the fabrication queue.In the notes, please specify the desired dimensions in mm or inches. Please note, in some cases you will be asked to provide the fabrication material.
The lab reserves the right to refuse prints that will monopolize the equipment, violates UIC campus policies or deemed outside of acedemic purposes. To help prevent this, we may ask you to scale down the size of your object or to resubmit your design as smaller files.
Item pickup: Items may be picked up at the front Desk located in the Fabrication Hub on the first floor of the Daley library after email confirmation from lab staff.
After you have recieved email that your object is is ready, you have 5 business days to pick it up.