Open Hardware in the lab: DIY using 3D printers, laser cutters, and CNC

This course will teach participants how to use 3D printing, laser cutting, and CNC milling for use in their research. In the course, participants will familiarize themselves with the steps from idea to manufactured object. For this, there will be a lecture about each of the three techniques, focusing on how the methods work, and pros and cons of each one of them. This will be followed by tutorials on how to use the required software for 3D design, making sketches, and slicing programs, and how to optimize a design for the relevant manufacturing method. Participants are encouraged to bring a design problem from their own research line, but it is by no means a requirement. The course can also be followed effectively out of general interest.

The course is conducted in two full days and two half days over two weeks. Part of the course hours will be devoted to theoretical lectures to understand the operation, materials, and theory for each of the manufacturing devices. The remaining part of the course will be conducted in the laboratory and focused on the use of 3D printers, laser cutter, and the CNC. Between the theoretical and practical lectures, students will receive mandatory assignments regarding the design of objects that can be prepared with the available devices, based on a real case from a group members’ design problem.

" I now have a whole new tool available to my skill set, as I now know which problems I can fix through 3D printing and how to do this " (course participant 2025)

" Buy a 3D printer! & Just go for it " (course participant 2025)

" Many physical problems I have in my research can be solved by myself with clever design " (course participant 2025)