The much anticipated NSF Geometric Design and Manufacturing Integration Lab in the Center for Manufacturing Research opened its doors last week, offering a first look at the facility that promises to help the CMR break new research ground and build stronger relationships with industry.

The state-of-the-art lab, funded by the National Science Foundation and valued at $500,000, is now equipped to be a one-stop design and manufacturing facility. The four new pieces of equipment that make up the lab — a five-axis computer numeric control machine, a rapid prototyping machine, a 3-D digital scanner and a coordinate measuring machine — provide a “wow” factor under demonstration.

“This is a great lab,” says Ken Currie, CMR director. “Students, researchers, and industry will have access and are welcome to use it.”

Mechanical Engineering Professor Kwun-Lon Ting, along with post-doctoral fellow Yi Zhang and research and development engineer Mike Renfro, walked the CMR External Advisory Board through demonstrations geared toward industry leaders curious about how access to the new equipment could solve problems and answer questions.

“The lab offers full capabilities from design, analysis and simulation all the way to prototyping and inspection,” says Ting.

It offers the ability of “reverse engineering,” in which the process begins by scanning an object, a free-form surface, or a sculpture and creating a 3-D computer model. The computer model can later be used to produce a prototype of the original design through the 5-axis CNC machine or the rapid prototyping machine.

Scanning and inspection can be done at the coordinate measuring machine with a precise touch probe that collects the data of an object with a robot-like finger. Operators can scan the object using a joystick or by setting the machine to scan automatically. Scans and inspections can also be done with a CMM-based high precision laser scanner that collects a huge amount of data in a short time.

The five-axis CNC machine allows a computer to control the cutting of complex objects that require high precision and directional control. Ting and Zhang will use the machine to implement and validate the results of their research project with an automated five-axis CNC tool path generation method. The automated tool path generation process will save time and costs and help keep jobs in the country.

During the tour, Renfro took the rapid prototyping machine through its paces, explaining how the machine produces a 3-D part by building it in “slices" with a stereo lithography apparatus that prints a 3-D object layer by layer.

“Parts produced with this machine have an incredible, glass-like surface finish,” says Renfro, contrasting it with products with rougher finishes most familiar to industry leaders in attendance.

“The bottom line is that this lab helps us break new ground by supporting Dr. Ting’s work,” says Currie. “Dr. Ting’s primary research focuses on mathematical equations and foundations. Previously, we had no facilities in which to test his theories. This machinery will allow him to validate his research and pass that new knowledge on to his students and industry.”

With lab space at a premium on campus, Currie oversaw a trade with a department to place the lab in Prescott Hall’s Room 112. After space and funding issues were solved, it took an additional four months to set up the facility.

“It took six to eight months to find the space and the funds, about $40,000, to make renovations happen,” says Currie.

The lab offers research opportunities across academic disciplines. Robert Coogan, head of the Appalachian Center for Craft metals studio, proposes to help artists learn to design and reproduce their original works. Earth Sciences Associate Professor Peter Li plans to develop virtual reality models to study climate change, pollution and other elements in a controlled environment. Mechanical Engineering’s Darrell Hoy will use the lab to enhance his research in stress analysis and photoelasticity.