Champaign-Urbana Community Fab Lab

To better serve and invest in our local community the Fab Lab has partnered with several anchor institutions to help introduce people (especially kids) to the process of making. We are helping them to set up their own maker spaces as well as coordinating a variety of collaborations, including workshops, outreach events and consultation. We also continue to retain connections to the global and national Fab Lab community.

Note: This document is a very rough draft.  If you're a Mac OS X user who would like to access mcu.cba.mit.edu, please try it and let me know how well these instructions work be e-mailing me me (lukescharf@clusterbee.net) or by adding a comment to this page.

Did this page answer all of your questions?

If you're starting a Fab Lab, we'd like to hear from you regardless of whether these FAQ items answered all of your questions.  There's a lot to talk about, and making connections within the Fab Lab community is valuable for all of us.  Our contact information is here.

Q: Do all Fab Labs have exactly the same equipment?

A: All Fab Labs use the same basic equipment although most Fab Labs may not have things such as the 3D printer and ShopBot, not all labs will have the space or funding for the larger or more expensive equipment.

Q: How much space does the CUCFL occupy?

Q: Who uses the CUCFL?

A: Our Fab Lab is open to the general public and we literally have folks from 8 months to 82 years old using the lab.  It also helps that we have a very diverse group of volunteers working in the Fab Lab.

Q: How did the CUCFL begin its outreach efforts?

A: The first group we had in the Fab Lab was from the local Don Moyer Boys and Girls Club last July/August 2010.  The project we provided was constructing small robots using lab equipment.  Also, we've opened the Fab Lab to groups of freshman engineering students working to construct a MakerBot and also a go-cart.

Up-to-date information about CUCFL outreach efforts can be found here.

Q: What does it cost to operate the CUCFL?

A: It is hard to judge what our operating cost is as we have had the Fab Lab open only since last spring.  And the University is not charging for the use of our space.

Q: Is the Champaign-Urbana Community Fab Lab affiliated with a university?

Q: What does it take in terms of IT equipment and internet bandwidth to establish a free standing Fab Lab?

A: We currently have 3 pillars of IT in the Fab Lab:

Below are answers to some common and/or interesting questions that have come up when talking to people who are starting new Fab Labs.

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Klondike Kate almost threw away this biscuit, but Yukon Johann grabbed it and engraved it on the laser cutter.