Buidling WPSD's MakerSpace

FRAN FLAHERTY, ARTIST & EDUCATOR

Building the Digital Arts & Fab Lab at WPSD Prepared for: Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf September 20, 2014

FRAN FLAHERTY, ARTIST & EDUCATOR

DIGITAL IMAGING AND FABRICATION FACILITY PLANS For The Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf

Objective To create a mini digital Arts fabrication lab on WPSD campus to primarily support the Digital Fabrication Initiative in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon School of Art's Digital Arts Studio

Facility Goals • Provide a safe environment for students to learn and practice digital fabrication in the arts • Provide reasonable access for students to use the facilities • Provide a digital laboratory conducive for learning and developing proficiency in the digital arts

Time Table • Decision on what laser cutter to get in the next few weeks • Facility upgrades by end of October?

• Purchases completed by mid-November • Installation and testing of all equipment by mid-December • January 2015: soft opening

BUDGET FOR FACILITIES AND EQUIPMENT Description

Cost

Duct work, ventilation, electric

Cost factors: type of laser cutter purchased, length of duct, CFM blower requirements (white paper attached)

Laser Cutter

$8350.00~$16,000.00

Dedicated Laptop or Desktop Computers for Laser Cutter

$1400.00

Software (attached)

$360/year for Adobe Suites *unless already owned*

Miscellaneous furniture

$500

Improvements to Mac Lab (specs attached)

$1999.00 each

3D Printer

$2900.00

FRAN FLAHERTY, ARTIST & EDUCATOR

Description

Cost

Dedicated Laptop or Desktop Computers for 3D Printer

$1400.00

Total

$14,910.00 + facility and machine upgrades

COMPARISON: EPILOG VS RABBIT Epilog Cost

Rabbit Rabbit laser cutters are about half the cost of Epilogs

Reliability

Epilogs parts are mostly manufactured in the US Strong tech support locally and nationally Epilogs have a solid manufacturing and sales history

Parts are manufactured In China and assembled In the US Young company with one office in Middleton, OH Not easily accessible tech support

Machine quality

Epilog's provides lower voltage machines relative to cost therefor limiting the variety of laser able material

Higher voltage relative to cost, wider variety of media that can be use, also has attachments such as rotary attachments

Usability

Relatively user-friendly, has a dedicated driver that can be plugged in to existing software

Needs G-CODE to run machine, therefore cannot be plugged in to existing software

Safety

Lower wattage, Many safety features

More powerful machine with minimal safety features

FRAN FLAHERTY, ARTIST & EDUCATOR

CONTACT INFORMATION

Fran Flaherty-Project Coordinator

fcflaherty@gmail.com, 412 680 5318

Marybeth Lauderdale-Director

mlauderdale@wpsd.org

Brian Slavinksy-Faculty, Rasters and Vectors

bslavinsky@wpsd.org

Greg Bowers & Terry Uzarski- Facility Coordinator gbowers@wpsd.org, tuzarski@wpsd.org Barb Manning & Matt Champion-Financial Coordinator

bmanning@wpsd.org, mcampion@wpsd.org

Linda Burik-Technology Director

lburik@wpsd.org

Makerbot

https://store.makerbot.com/replicator

Rabbit Laser

Phone: (513) 217-5707, Email: ray@RabbitLaserUSA.com

Allegheny Educational Systems

http://www.alleghenyedusys.com/