Students 3D print and use the vinyl cutter in the library Maker Lab to create a variety of objects – academic and personal.  Here are five of our favorite maker lab uses:

Entrepreneurship team projects

Entrepreneurship teams are tasked with running their own venture project business throughout the semester, designing, marketing, financing, and working together to make their projected sales goals.

Teams have utilized 3D printing and 3D scanning to prototype product designs or build the final product. Past projects that utilized the Maker Lab included: Talk to the Hands, 3D printed keychains of ASL hand signs; Emerge, an all-in-one hand sanitizer and tissue dispenser; and Vantage Vinyl, a product that allows vinyl records to be hung up for display.

Custom gaming pieces

3D printing is a useful tool for printing custom gaming miniatures for Warhammer, D & D, and more. One student went so far as to design and print his own custom Settlers of Catan set with roads, settlements, and cities based upon twisted hexagons.

Digitally designed characters

Students enrolled in animation or design courses like 3D Digital Sculpting use design software, like Maya, to create and animate digital characters. These 3D designs can be exported for 3D printing. Characters that we’ve 3D printed include student renderings of Pi from The Life of Pi and Yennefer from Witcher.

Vinyl cut installations

Need lettering for your next gallery exhibit? Students use the Maker Lab’s vinyl cutter to cut adhesive vinyl for gallery lettering, logos, and other images for installation. Vinyl cutting is also great for making stickers!

Fix stuff

Did you break the bracket of your Beats Headphones? Don’t worry. We can repair it! Students have made small repairs by 3D printing everything from missing board game pieces to new iPhone cases.