Overhead image of the main floor of the Digital Fabrication Lab

Digital Fabrication Lab

Digital Fabrication Lab

The Digital Fabrication Lab is a facility for the construction of full-scale building prototypes and mock-ups. The laboratories and equipment support both faculty research and research-based studios and seminars.  Students can participate in studios, electives, and research projects over the course of the semester and year.  Much of the coursework, equipment, and research in the lab focuses on the automated production and assembly of building systems using information models and CNC equipment. The lab also houses a small structures and materials testing lab, a concrete casting lab, and outdoor workspaces for installation and testing of mock-ups.

The DFL contains equipment for working with metals, wood, plastics, concrete, and masonry. The primary large-format machines (4 ft. x 8 ft. work volume or larger) in the lab are 3-axis and 5-axis CNC routers – for working in wood and plastics and a 3-axis CNC waterjet machine for cutting metals, plastics, glass, stone, and concrete. A Kuka Robot (KR Quantec Pro) provides capability in robotic programming, control, and fabrication. The lab also has a suite of small CNC machines for laser cutting, CNC foam cutting, and CNC metals milling to fill out our materials capabilities and to support the operations of the large format machines.  A host of manual equipment for drilling, sanding, cutting, forming, welding, etc. complement the Digital equipment.

In addition to shop space, the DFL has both an 18-seat computer lab, and a 16 seat Studio space.  Both education facilities allow the full support of electives, seminars, and studios on-site to decrease lag time between design and fabrication. 

DFL HOURS

Mondays - Thursdays: 8am - 8pm
Fridays: 8am - 5pm

 

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