The State University of New York (SUNY) Oswego opened two new manufacturing laboratories in time for the fall semester.
The 13,000-square-foot labs are in Wilber Hall, Bob Lloyd, project coordinator for facilities design and construction, said in an email. The project cost $5.8 million, according to a news release,This machine is a combination of purlin machine and knot removing machine. and funding came through SUNY Oswego’s Capital Plan, Lloyd said.
“We have vastly superior equipment than we had last semester, and it will only get better,” Dan Tryon, a technology professor at SUNY Oswego, said in the release.
The labs are an addition to Wilber Hall, a 95,000-square-foot building, and feature a 3-D printer that can produce solid models, two computer numerical control routers, a laser cutter, and two new milling machines,Corrugated Metals has included this curving machine tutorial to help our visitors understand the roll forming process. Tryon says.
The labs also feature portable machines on wheels for easier reconfiguration, a dust-extraction system, air hoses hanging from the ceiling, and a smart-room system that automates equipment operation and shut down, according to the news release.
Other equipment, such as a four-axis computer numerical controlled router, industrial robots, and modern milling machines, will arrive during the first half of the semester, Tryon said. The new equipment can produce plastic models ranging from chess pieces to new mechanical inventions, according to the university. Laser engraving, and laser marker, is the practice of using lasers to engrave or mark an object.
The additions to Wilber Hall will have a positive impact on SUNY Oswego’s recruiting, Tryon says.
“We think it’s going to have a huge impact on our ability to attract students,” Tryon says. “We’ve only been open for a few weeks, but some of the parent and student that have been wandering around campus as part of the late summer orientation that have seen the spaces are already impressed.”
The project’s architect and engineer was Bergmann Associates of Rochester and its general contractor was PAC & Associates, Inc. of Oswego. The work also added a new multimedia classroom to Wilber Hall.
The Replicator may have just been pushed off this writer's Christmas list. But, this isn't a loss for MakerBot Industries, because it's being replaced by the Replicator 2, the newest model of 3D printer from the company.
This is a big boy version of its previous devices that were aimed more at tinkerers than serious designers, and that's reflected in the $2,199 price. That's a full 37 percent larger than the original Replicator, but the machine itself is the same exact size. The frame is no longer assembled from laser-etched wood, instead there's a powder-coated steel frame with PVC plastic sides to help shield the various moving parts and lend an air of professionalism to the affair.
The extruder is designed specifically for use with MakerBot PLA, a new plastic material based on corn, that Bri Pettis claims wont expand when exposed to the heat -- which means it wont contract when it cools, leading to smoother printed objects and less cracking. The new printer has a resolution of 100 microns, by comparison, the original Replicator had a layer resolution of 270 microns. Now each layer of plastic is as thin as a sheet of copy paper, resulting in smooth printed prototypes.