Product Realization
and Prototyping Facilities
We view prototyping as an accelerated process that blurs traditional divides between
engineering, design, science, art, fabrication, and manufacturing.
We offer consultations, modular curricula, fabrication services, and promote lateral thinking
while providing exposure to new ideas and techniques with their logical application to help hone ideas into manufacturable products. Our facilities are accessible 24-hours per day, feature over $5M of state-of-the-art equipment, and employ a specialized team.
Product Realization
Consultations
Experts are available to discuss nearly any facet of prototyping, fabrication, and design. The team can assist with brainstorming, material selection, assessment plans for manufacturing, technical advice on tool use and application, and any combination pertaining to your product. Consultations are free for our member community.
Prototyping, Fabrication, and 3D Printing Services
We also offer in-house fabrication and design solutions for our members: tight-tolerance machining, multi-part assemblies and 3D modeling, industrial-grade 3D printing, and anything in between. Our Product Realization team can utilize any tool in our facilities and tailor their approach to meet a member’s objectives, allowing for collaborative processes, or simply working off a drawing, all at competitive rates.
Prototyping Facilities
Wood & Metal Shop
A flexible workspace to fabricate and assemble projects large and small.
This facility is equipped with standard consumables, power and hand
tools, and a wide range of equipment for cutting, joining, modifying, and
shaping parts for prototypes out of plastics, woods, metals, and other
materials.
Equipment
SawStop table saw with 52” rip capacity and safety brake / Felder 16” jointer/planer / ShopBot 4’x8’ CNC router / Miller
MIG & TIG welders and plasma cutter / vertical bandsaws, chop saws, drill presses, and disc sanders for both wood and
metal / array of hand and power tools and consumables for various stages of wood and metal work
Equipped with precision manual and CNC milling and turning equipment, and the technical and pragmatic support of our staff in various machining methodologies. It is stocked with a robust cache of maintained resources and associated tooling, measuring equipment, and software.
Equipment
HAAS VF2-SS Vertical Machining Center with touch-off probing system / TRAK DPM RX3 Bed Mill capable of manual and
CNC machining / TRAK TRL 1630RX Machine Lathe capable of manual and CNC machining
A space for soft-goods prototyping and houses several industrial sewing machines and the needed associated supportive tools and consumables for garment and fabric prototyping.
Equipment
Juki Industrial straight stitch, walking foot, and 4-thread overlock sewing machines / Large workbench for pattern and yardage layout / Gravity iron / Assortment of marking, pinning, cutting and sewing hand-tools and consumables
Versatile and adaptable workbenches for PCB assembly, modifications, and testing. There is a range of equipment suitable for extremely high frequency radio band electronics work, along with other equipment for populating boards, and general electronics work from cable harnesses to
through-hole soldering
Equipment
Large assortment of Tektronix equipment for microwave through millimeter wave electronics / LPKF Reflow Oven / LPKF PCB Router / Variety of function generators, oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, precision multimeters, power supplies / Hand soldering and rework equipment
This workshop has a large, clean assembly space and provides access to computers loaded with various CAD, CAM, and other useful software geared toward digital fabrication. It is equipped with SLS, SLA, and FFF additive manufacturing equipment, a CO2 laser cutter, a large-format printer / vinyl-cutter, and vacuum former.
Equipment
EOS Formiga P-110 SLS 3D printer / Formlabs Form 2 and Form 3 SLA 3D printers / Farm of Ultimaker FFF 3D printers /80W CO2 laser cutter with 33”x45” bed / Formech Vacuum Former / Roland VersaCAMM Large Format Printer and vinyl cutter / Several desktop computers
This space features a variety of equipment meant to support silicone, resin mold making and casting, carbon-reinforced applications, and other chemical processing work.
Equipment
Pressure and vacuum chambers / oven / large workbench / precision scale / curing rack with dedicated filtration / Assorted hand tools and consumables
A safe and clean place to efficiently spray-finish and post-process prototypes. A variety of other equipment is also found throughout our other facilities for finishing processes, including media blasting cabinets and tumblers, buffing and polishing wheels, and ultrasonic cleaners.
Equipment
84” x 36” x 48” benchtop spray Booth / HVLP spray gun hook-up / Filtered air for air-supplied helmets / Media blasting cabinet, buffing and polishing wheels, ultrasonic cleaner
Will feature equipment for sample gathering, inspection, and modification, and several climate controlled growth chambers in a biosafety level 1 space well suited for bio- and ag-tech prototyping.
Equipment
Nikon microscopes / Systec autoclave / Eppendorf centrifuge / 75L incubator / Conviron growth chambers with modular lighting and shelving system and humidity control / OSRAM Phytofy RL tunable grow lighting / Various hand tools, consumables, glassware, and other bench-top equipment