LOCATION
ART 113 (temporary swing space)
OPERATING HOURS
Monday-Friday: 8:00am-5:00pm
Saturday-Sunday: CLOSED
Hours may be different for summer and holidays. For the most current hours, visit the CVAD FabLab's Facebook page.
SCHEDULING & TRAINING
- To schedule time on the FabLab machines, please visit us in ART 113
- To schedule a FabLab Filecheck, please visit us in ART 113
CONTACT
Email cvadfablab@unt.edu
ABOUT
The CVAD Digital Fabrication Lab (FabLab) is temporarily located in ART 113 and is an open resource for current UNT College of Visual Arts and Design graduate and undergraduate students to make work utilizing the equipment we have available. All students currently enrolled in CVAD courses will have access to the lab without any additional costs as the FabLab is paid for with your student fees. Anyone outside of CVAD is required to buy a semester pass in order to gain access. The pass, called a FabLab ShopCard, costs $100 per semester and is required of all non-CVAD students, faculty and staff who wish to use the FabLab. CVAD faculty wishing to use the FabLab for class demonstrations will not be required to transfer any departmental funds to the FabLab.
The FabLab is divided into clean and dirty areas. The clean area has equipment like the laser cutters and resin printers while the dirty area has equipment that are either more messy or require a greater amount of dedicated space like the CNC router and Plasma Cutter.
The FabLab is a resource for making art work, it is not a production facility for your business or commercial ventures.
The CVAD FabLab is primarily a student resource. Faculty and Staff will not be allowed to schedule time in the lab during the hours of operation above but may use the equipment on a walk-in basis if the equipment is available. This follows regular university protocol. Additionally, faculty can use the FabLab outside of the hours of operation provided they attend a training session - BUT there must always be at least two people present when the FabLab is used outside of the hours of operation and at least one of them has to have attended the “Afterhours Training”. If a faculty member is unable to find someone else to be present when they are available to work it is possible to hire one of our graduate students to work with them. The faculty member, or department, would be responsible for paying the graduate student. The current rate in the FabLab is $12.50 an hour. Payment can be made through an IDO (see your Department Chair or Department Admin). Only CVAD faculty and staff will have afterhours access, not students (graduate or undergraduate).
Faculty utilizing the equipment for their own personal work will not be required to pay a fee to use the equipment but will be responsible for paying for the student worker outside the normal hours and will be responsible for the expenses incurred in printing lament and the resin costs if using the 3D printers. No other materials are provided for faculty use in the FabLab.
SAFETY TRAINING
Before being allowed to use the equipment in the FabLab, all patrons, faculty and students, are required to take an annual safety training class (approximately 30 minutes) before being allowed on the equipment. Visit us in ART 113 to schedule training before you come to work on the machines. Faculty can bring their classes to the FabLab to complete their safety training as a group. To set this up, email cvadfablab@unt.edu. Safety training, both individuals and classes, are allowed during the faculty exclusive period 8/28-9/11.
FILECHECK
Students who wish to schedule time on a piece of equipment will first need to come to the FabLab and have the staff work with them on a Filecheck. To schedule a FabLab Filecheck, please visit us in ART 113. At the Filecheck, staff will work with the student to not only ensure their file(s) are correct, but to also make sure the student is prepared to use the equipment. The Filecheck generally takes approximately 30 minutes and after it is complete, the staff will schedule the student’s time on the piece of equipment.
With some of the equipment, materials can be provided, but what we have available may not be what the student requires for a project. If we have the materials you need you may have them free of charge.
If you have any questions, send an email to cvadfablab@unt.edu. Appointments are available from 8:30am - 4:30pm, Monday through Friday.
FABLAB STAFF
FabLab Staff are present for your safety, the safety of the machines, and to help you troubleshoot problems you may have utilizing the machines. FabLab Staff members are not trained to assist with any issues regarding your design process including troubleshooting design software issues, they are trained to help you process your finished design through the machines in the lab.
STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY
The laser cutters and CNC machines are potentially dangerous and need your full, undivided attention. A few seconds could mean the difference between minimal equipment damage and thousands of dollars’ worth of damage. Students are financially liable for machines damaged by reckless and/or negligent use. Also, if one would like to make a 6-hour engraving on a laser cutter, then one will have to watch a 6 hour engraving on a laser cutter. It’s not the FabLab Staff member’s job to oversee your 6-hour project. Students are not allowed to temporarily leave the FabLab while a job is being processed without pausing the job first and notifying the lab staff.
RESERVE TIME
If a student is more than 15 minutes late to an appointment on a piece of the equipment they will forfeit their reservation and it will be counted as a no show. More than two no shows will result in the loss of your access to the FabLab for the remainder of the semester. Students should come prepared to utilize the equipment right away; editing files or cutting down material should be completely done prior to your appointment.
SOFTWARE EDUCATION RESOURCES
The FabLab staff have created a series of Software Education Modules to deliver training content that can be used for self-learning to increase the understanding of FabLab software among users. The Software Education Modules assume that the user has little to no knowledge of each software program. You can use any of these software programs to create files for use on our machines.
Modules include:
- Illustrator CC (Lasers/CNCs)
- Netfabb (File check for 3D printers)
- PreForm (Resin Printer)
- Epilog Dashboard (Epilog Lasers)
- LaserWorks/RuiDas Works (BOSS Laser)
- PartWorks (Shopbot)
- Torchmate CAD (Plasma cutter CNC)
EQUIPMENT LIST
Clean Area
- Formlabs Form1+ (Resin printer)
- 4.9"x4.9"x6.5" build volume
- Parts commonly designed in Autodesk Fusion 360 or Tinkercad
- Formlabs Form2 (Resin printer)
- 13.5"x13"x20.5"
- Parts commonly designed in Autodesk Fusion 360 or Tinkercad
- Epilog Fusion M2 (Laser cutter 75 watts)
- 40"x28" cutting area
- 13.25" material thickness (not cut depth)
- Parts commonly designed in Adobe Illustrator
- Epilog Helix 24 (Laser cutter 60 watt)
- 24"x18" cutting area
- 8.5" material thickness (not cut depth)
- Parts commonly designed in Adobe Illustrator
- Epilog Zing 16 (Laser cutter 30 watts)
- 16"x 12" cutting area
- 4.5" maximum material thickness (not cut depth)
- Parts commonly designed in Adobe Illustrator
- Boss SS-3650 (Laser Cutter 150 watts)
- 36"x48" cutting area
- 12" maximum material thickness (not cut depth)
- Parts commonly designed in Adobe Illustrator
- Creaform Handheld Scanner
- ShopBot Desktop (CNC with 1hp Spindle)
- 24"x18" cutting area
- 3.5" maximum material thickness (cut depth)
- Parts commonly designed in Adobe Illustrator, Autodesk Fusion 360 or VCarve Pro
- Miscellaneous
- Instructor podium with overhead projector hookups
- Collaboration table (available upon request)
- Material available for demos (located on material rack)
Dirty Area
- Torchmate Growth Series 4x4 (Plasma cutter)
- 4'x4' cutting area
- ½" maximum material thickness (cut depth)
- Parts commonly designed in Adobe Illustrator, Autodesk Fusion 360 or AutoCAD
- ShopBot PRS Standard 96x48 CNC
- 8'x4' cutting area
- 4" maximum material thickness
- 2" maximum cut depth (based on bit length)