The Idea Fab Labs will be providing an interactive exhibit at this year's first Santa Cruz Mini Maker Faire, on April 16th 10am-6pm at the Gateway School. Come along and check out our augmented reality Virtual Sandbox project, along with a few other interesting and interactive projects produced right here at our lab. We will have team...
Register Now This workshop will cover an introduction to Arduino: an open-source micro-controller with the ability to quickly and easily interface with a variety of sensors, electronics, and software making it a staple of physical computing in artistic applications. Class Description: What if you could use computing power to interact with the physical...
Register Now Looking to create hand-made jewelry for yourself or someone special? Come learn to create beautiful jewelry by soldering metal wire together to make rings, earrings, and bracelets of your very own. Class Description: Learn to use basic jewelry tools, how to work with non-ferrous metals, how to solder metal wire together, and...
Register Now Want to experiment with Autodesk Fusion 360? Come learn to render realistic images in Autodesk Fusion 360. At the end of our class you will have designed a lamp using a wide variety of tools within the program. You will then be able to apply these skills to your own designs....
Widely renowned in the northern reaches of California, the Idea Fab Labs Tech-Art Incubator Program seeks to empower artists by granting them access to an arsenal of high-end digital fabrication tools while coaching them through the production of an entire series of technologically inspired art and finally culminating in a celebratory gallery soirée. Join us for the very first Santa Cruz installment!
Register Now This workshop will cover the basics of programming on the Arduino. In the process, you'll learn how to create dynamic light sequencing effects for your next display or art installation. Class Description: Have you ever wanted to create your own light display? Or maybe just learn enough code to program...
Come and join us for the next First Friday August 5th to see the final night of our first gallery show at this location, Abracadabra by Rosemary Widmann, and also check out our facility. Come see our new gallery walls, and reorganized space, and tour the tools and equipment as well - open to everyone!
This will be an ongoing class available 3 to 4 times a month. Join UCSC Art Department Lecturer Tra Bouscaren to learn how to mashup and projection-map live video. Designed for theatre groups, dance troupes, performance and installation artists, our workshops will be rooted in a visual programming environment called Isadora, and branch out...
Register Now Interactive Video and Projection Mapping Join Tra Bouscaren to learn how to develop and control your interactive video and projection mapping projects. We will mix live and pre-recorded video, as well as abstract video structures created from within the program itself. Class Description: Join UCSC Art Department Lecturer Tra Bouscaren to...
Register Now Learn to design and create your own custom brass box latch... transforming a piece of brass sheet metal and wire into a beautiful locking closure for any wooden box. Class Description Increase the artistic quality of your handcrafted boxes with a custom made metal latch. Learn the basic design of a hinged brass...
Brief Explanation: The laser cutter and engraver uses a drawing program to tell it what to do. A CO2 laser can cut and engrave wood, leather, some plastics, cotton, paper, even bread! It’s not strong enough to cut glass or metal, though it can etch glass and coatings on metal such as anodization or paint.
How it works: It uses a focused beam of light to burn through wood or other materials. It can cut all the way through or just engrave the surface. It is good at very detailed cuts and engravings.
What it makes: It is used to make engravings of images, signs, boxes, sculptures and more. A CO2 laser can cut and engrave wood, leather, some plastics, cotton, and paper!
Redsail 1290 Laser cutting & engraving machine
GWEIKE LC1390 Laser cutting & engraving machine
Brief Explanation: The 3D printer builds objects by “printing” out one layer at a time, using a 3D model as a guide.
How it works: It is essentially a tiny hot glue gun, that squeezes out melted plastic and draws a single layer of an object, then moves up a tiny bit, and draws the second layer on top of the first layer, and on and on.
What it makes: Mostly small plastic items such as toys, containers, replacements parts, and more.
2 x Prusa i3 Mk3
Brief Explanation: The ShopBot is a computer controlled router that can cut or carve wood. It can cut up to a 4ft by 14ft piece of wood. We can use a drawing program, or we can send it a 3D model in order to tell it what to do.
How it works: It uses stepper motors to move the router through the x, y, and z axis system. A router is like a drill bit, but it is designed to move sideways through wood as well as up and down.
What it makes: It can be used to make furniture: chairs tables, desks, kitchen cabinets. Also large signs, 3D carvings, and more.
