Leigh College has reportedly established a brand new 3D printing hub on the Mountaintop campus to satisfy the rising demand for 3D printing sources. The 3D printing hub is the most recent addition to Design Labs, which boasts 5 primary lab areas throughout two areas. In Wilbur, there’s the MakerSpace, Additive Manufacturing Lab, and Electronics Design Studio. In the meantime, in Constructing C, the Design Lab operates a woodshop, a metallic store, and numerous digital fabrication applied sciences, together with CNC plasma cutters, CNC routers, and laser reducing instruments.
“Because the Design Labs proceed to develop and collaborate with extra departments, pupil golf equipment, and campus organizations, enhancing hands-on experiential studying throughout all of Lehigh’s faculties, we have to guarantee these sources are as out there and accessible as doable,” stated Brian Slocum, Director of the Design Labs. “Including this 3D print hub at Mountaintop will complement our present amenities and make the workflow extra environment friendly to college students and college who spend most of their time on the Mountaintop campus.”
The hub on the Mountaintop campus joins the prevailing amenities at Wilbur, which characteristic 30 networked filament printers, high-resolution SLA printers, a powder mattress nylon printer, and direct metallic printing capabilities. Over its decade-long operation, the 3D printing amenities at Wilbur have accrued greater than 120,000 print hours throughout 40,000 tasks – serving college students from numerous disciplines.
The Mountaintop hub has now added 10 extra filament printers and a complicated, larger-scale SLA printer. This enhancement goals to cut back the excessive site visitors and wait occasions skilled at Wilbur throughout peak occasions, and encourages larger pupil engagement at Constructing C.
“Staffed all through the day by educated Design LabsTech Fellows keen and capable of assist everybody make use of this superb expertise, the 3D print hub is accessible to even probably the most novice person,” stated Mike Moore, the Supervisor of Design Labs at Mountaintop. “Moreover, all of the printers are networked, permitting college students to ship their designs to the printer from their dorms after which come to choose up the ultimate product.”
“AAD is closely built-in with 3D printing in our curriculum. Our college students steadily make the most of these applied sciences within the classroom for numerous assignments and tasks,” stated Nicholas Sawicki, an affiliate professor and Chair of the Division of Artwork, Structure, and Design (AAD) at Lehigh College. “The brand new lab won’t solely profit our division however will even assist a various vary of disciplines and extracurricular golf equipment that make the most of the prevailing studios, labs, and retailers on the Mountaintop Campus… The Mountaintop Campus is gaining recognition as a middle for innovation, more and more drawing college students from various departments and applications.”
In alignment with the goals of Lehigh’s strategic plan – ‘Inspiring the Future Makers’ – the 3D printing hub has been funded by the Future Maker Grants.
“At Lehigh College, college students are the long run makers,” stated Chris Cook dinner, Interim Vice President for Finance and Administration at Lehigh College. “Our new 3D printing hub exemplifies our dedication to fostering an setting of innovation and creativity. This growth not solely enhances our amenities but in addition considerably bolsters our capability to assist college students’ improvement by way of hands-on, experiential studying. The Mountaintop campus is changing into a central hub for innovation, drawing college students from various disciplines to collaborate and convey their formidable tasks to life.”
