Champaign-Urbana Community Fab Lab

Open Sessions for Summer starting May 15, 2011:

• Sunday afternoon from Noon to 6 pm
• Monday evening closed
• Thursday evening from 4 to 9 pm
• Available for scheduled classes and activities in addition to the normal operating hours

My brother turned 30 this year so I wanted to make him something special (his birthday was January 1st). I got busy so the project fell behind. But thank God his wife's birthday is coming up soon (May 28th) so I can make her one as well and kill two birds with one shot. 

Betty Barett writes:

May 1 is the Great Fab Lab Sandwich Fabrication Event. This is a D.I.Y. Event to celebrate several wonderful events in our community. Johann Rischau and Anna Gutsch are graduating. Mercedes Mane became a citizen. Mercedes and Gary Watson are having birthdays too! We want to celebrate.

The GFLSFE is our chance to have some fun and say congratulations. The event starts at 12:00 and ends at 3:00 when the lab opens. Please bring some sandwich fixings, salads, chips, or beverages to share, if you wish. We look forward to seeing everyone.

Lori and Zeb created laser cut wedding invitations in the Fab Lab, as part of their local green DIY wedding.  Here's a video greeting card that describes the whole thing. :-)

Video on YouTube - http://youtu.be/R70Ee8rWh8g

Hat tips to Johann and Mary K.

The fab lab will be closed Sunday, April 24th in observance of Easter.  See you on Monday!

Ryan Larsen writes:
Thanks very much for your recent help with my son's Pinewood Derby!  ...  The car did well in the race, it didn't place, but it won a few races.  A special thanks to Johan and his extra work in helping us get it ready!

Johann writes:
They came in with a wooden block and then created a 3D model and routed it out on the Modela.  They also drilled holes for extra weights and added the wheels on there.

Betty Barrett writes:

Dave Semeraro is a member of the CUCFL community and joins us on a regular basis to work on projects in the lab. During the time he isn’t in the lab, he hangs out at the NCSA where he helps people create visualizations of large scale models of physical processes. His undergrad and master degrees are in aeronautical engineering and his PhD is in computer science. His early passion for aeronautics shows in the work he is doing in the lab.

The monthly meeting of the CUCFL Business/Operations Committee will be held at 5:30 pm on April 4th, 2011 at the fab lab.  Join us if you can!

The Fab Lab will be closed from Monday 3/21 through Sunday 3/27 for Spring Break.  The Fab Lab open sessions will resume at the normal time (4pm-9pm) on Monday 3/28.

Damien Hernandez has constructed a cahedral out of gold colored matboard.  Here are some pictures of his laser cut sanctuary.

"The 10 to Watch series continues with industrial design graduate student, Johann Rischau, who will use the space as an experimental laboratory for investigating mass customization and our emotional connections to the objects we make and consume. He has produced a prototype for a computer-controlled router that processes visitors' brainwaves and imprints them on various materials. Viewers are invited to participate in the work by inputting their own brainwaves and leaving with an object that is made just for them.

10 to Watch is a year-long series curated by Jorge Lucero, Jimmy Luu and Tumelo Mosaka that brings relevant and engaging ideas from the School of Art + Design’s classrooms to a public forum."

Facebook Event Page:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=185315728175197

Inspired by a post on Adafruit Industries blog about someone who engraved "Don't Panic" on their Kindle 2, I decided to personalize the Kindle DX Graphite that I purchased to read large the huge stack of PDFs that my professors hand out in class.  This project turned out to be a mixed success; I hope that anyone thinking about using an Epilog laser can use what I've learned.

This should be VERY beginner friendly. Please feel welcome to come if you've never used Inkscape or have never come to the FabLab before. Please also come if you have used it extensively to share your experiences with the rest of us!

WHERE: We will meet among the computers in the FabLab. Bring a laptop with Inkscape (it's free!) on it if you have one, or use the computers which all have Inkscape installed.

WHEN: This Sunday, January 30, 3:30pm for about an hour.

Call for Submissions: Fab Yearbook 2011

Hello all, makers from around the FabLab community,

2011 is upon us. May you have a Fab year! It is time to start putting together your Fab YearBook 2011 contributions! Send in your contributions before February 1st 2011. Publication date is February 23rd 2011.