Manufacturing Assets Available to Students
This page details some of the manufacturing assets available to mechanical engineering students. As a student, note the following:
- Safety is paramount. All students must be properly safety trained before operating machine shop equipment. When in doubt, ask for assistance.
- These manufacturing assets are a privilege. They are not an entitlement to you as a student. Failure to follow the proper protocol (most notably safety) will result in your team losing access to these assets.
- Consult with your course instructor first for approval, before requesting access to any manufacturing asset for the first time.
- This listing is not official. It is accurate to the best of our knowledge; however, it is your responsibility as a student to clarify with the appropriate facilities director, the appropriate protocols for operating and/or utilize any of the below facilities.
Last Update: 06 January, 2016
The List (click to expand):
Mechanical Engineering Machine Shops
For student access to the machine shops, all members of the project team must undergo annual safety training before access can be given to the designated team leads. Note that this training only grants access to general shop equipment. For access to specialized equipment, designated team leaders should designate 1-3 individuals for annual machine-specific training.
HH 348 Machine Shop
Facilities Manager: Lewis Moore <moorelc@hawaii.edu>
Contact Person: Lewis Moore <moorelc@hawaii.edu>
Facilities Include:
- General Equipment (open to students, annual safety training required)
- General Tooling
- Drill Press
- Vertical Band Saw
- Horizontal Band Saw
- Step Shear
- Belt & Disk Sander
- Magnabend
- Specialized Equipment (open to students, machine-specific annual safety training required)
- Technicians Only
- CNC Router
HH 140 Machine Shop
Facilities Manager: Lewis Moore <moorelc@hawaii.edu>
Contact Person: Lewis Moore <moorelc@hawaii.edu>
Facilities Include:
- General Equipment (open to students, annual safety training required)
- General Tooling
- Soldering Station
- Specialized Equipment (open to students, machine-specific annual safety training required)
- Welding Machine
- Hand-held Plasma Cutter
- Dyno
- Oven
- Autoclave
- Technicians Only
- Instron Universal Testing Machine
- Vextrak CNC Mill
Mechanical Engineering Rapid Prototyping Labs
HH 357 Rapid Prototyping Lab
Facilities Manager: Lewis Moore <moorelc@hawaii.edu>
Contact Person: Lewis Moore <moorelc@hawaii.edu>
Approximate Lead Time: 1-2 weeks
Facilities Include (Technicians Only):
- Stratasys uPrint FDM 3D Printer
HH 309A Rapid Prototyping Lab
Facilities Manager: Lewis Moore <moorelc@hawaii.edu>
Contact Person: Your course TA
Approximate Lead Time: <1 week
Facilities Include (Technicians Only):
- Robo3D R1 FFF 3D Printers
HH 307 Nanotechnology Lab
Facilities Manager: Mehrdad Ghasemi Nejhad <nejhad@hawaii.edu>
Contact Person: Your course TA and/or course instructor
Approximate Lead Time: 1-2 weeks
Facilities Include (Technicians Only):
- Formlabs Stereolithography 3D Printer
- Markforged Composites 3D Printer
College of Engineering Machine Shop
HH 180 Machine Shop
Facilities Manager: Brian Kodama <bkodama@hawaii.edu>, Benjamin Respicio <blrespic@hawaii.edu>
Contact Person: Your course instructor
Facilities Include (Technicians Only):
- CNC Mill
- Lathe
Resources Outside Mechanical Engineering
Civil Engineering (HH 101) Machine Shop
Facilities Manager: Mitchel Pinkerton <mpinkert@hawaii.edu>
Contact Person: Your course TA and/or course instructor
Approximate Lead Time: 1-2 weeks
Facilities Include (Technicians Only):
- CNC Plasma Table
The UH FabLab (HH 448/449)
Facilities Manager: David Garmire <garmire@hawaii.edu>
Contact Person: David Garmire <garmire@hawaii.edu>
Facilities include (Technicians Only):
- Full Spectrum Laser Cutter
- PCB Milling Machine
- Makerbot Fused Filament Fabrication 3D Printer
Engineering Support Facility (SOEST ESF)
Located in HIG right underneath NOAA. Should be HIG 151.
Run by Mario, they have the following machines. HAAS VF3, Bridgeport manual mill, Moore manual mill, Monarch lathe, Cincinnati lathe, LeBlonde lathe, Miller MIG and TIG welding units, band saws, cold saw, hydraulic press, pneumatic shear. They use Mastercam to program the CNC. In the past they’ve helped out SAE so you may want to see if they can help for free.
Resources Outside the University of Hawaii at Manoa
The following is info on various local and non local resources for manufacturing and design (Written by Grant Takara, TA for ME481)
Raw Material
Royal Metals
Located in Kalihi
https://www.yelp.com/biz/royal-metals-co-honolulu
Specializes in aluminum (bar stock, rod, rect and square extrusion, sheet and plate metal)
Has steel on stock such as threaded rod, rod, bar stock, sheet metal
They do have a flatbed that can deliver. Cut charge is $10. About 20-25% the cost of metals purchased from Home Depot or City Mill. Usual lengths are 8ft for bar and rod stock, 16-24 ft for hollow extrusion, 4’x8’ for anything sheet or plate metal.
As they do not post their prices for metal will be getting approximate costs for various types. Quotes are from 2016.
1″x0.5″x12′ 6061 bar $28.80
3″x1″x24′ 6063 rect tube extrusion $94.80
4’x10’x0.04″ sheet 6061 ~ $40.00
1″x1″x25′ 6061 structural angle $30.00
If looking for tubing look for schedule 40 or 80 piping, much cheaper than tubing.
Universal Manufacturers
Located in Kalihi
Has mostly steel and some aluminum in stock
Min Plastics & Supply Inc.
921 Kaamahu Pl.
Honolulu, Hi 96817
Phone: 808-847-1511
Fax: 808-845-4977
Email: sales@minplastics.com
Website: www.minplastics.com
All sorts of plastics sold, below are some quotes obtained.
1 sheet 1/16” x 4’ x 8’ polycarb clear – $102.40 + tax (obtained 10-31-16)
1 sheet 1/8” x 4’ x 8’ polycarb clear – $193.28 + tax (obtained 10-31-16)
McMaster-Carr
They pretty much have everything although it’s expensive. I usually order Acetal (Delrin) and other plastics from them. I suggest making a note to have things shipped via USPS Priority (They don’t do first class) otherwise you’ll get charged $25+ for UPS shipping.
Ebay/Amazon
For small bar stock, polycarbonate, or plastics I sometimes use Ebay.
Machining Resources
Aside from the labs in Holmes Hall, below are additional machining resources that you can use.
Precision Machinery and Tooling
Located in Pearl City
http://www.ptengineeringllc.com/
Run by Peter “Pete”. Mike Bond also works there, he makes a lot of titanium products and is a veteran Kickstarter.
Has multiple CNC machines, offers CAD and CAM services. Also has a waterjet and 10W YAG laser for engraving on metal. You can also buy small quantities of raw material.
Tips: Bring omiyage like manapua. Running the waterjet is really easy so he may do that at discount in exchange for displaying the company name on vehicles/drones. The laser and CNC machines are almost always being used. Make sure you request a quote 2-3 weeks in advance.
Universal Manufacturers
They have a waterjet and laser cutter. They may also cut material at discount. Welding services are also provided.
Non-Professional Machining Services
The following are machine shops at local high schools used for the FIRST robotics competition. Many alumni are University of Hawaii graduates so you may be able to get their help.
Waialua High School Robotics
They’re shop has a waterjet, SHARP or Brother CNC machine, a converted knee mill CNC, manual mill, powder coating, manual lathe, etc. If you need something waterjet they’re very willing to help. CNC machining may be more difficult since the shop is managed by volunteers.
Glenn Lee is the team advisor. Jeff Bruno is a recent graduate and used to program the HAAS VF3 in Mario’s shop. Cody Smith and Chadwick Ulep are also graduates that go back to help the team.
Mckinley High School Robotics
They have a bunch of bridgeport manual mills and a Tormach PCNC 1100. The machines are run by engineers that work at the shipyard so contacting them for machining help may be difficult.
Kalani High School Robotics
They have a Jet knee mill, Tormach PCNC770, Universal 50W laser cutter/engraver, and 4’x6’ Shopbot CNC Router. Probably best to contact Bryan Silver, the robotics advisor about the machines.
Grant Takara (Current ME481 TA)
TIG welder, Tormach PCNC440, Tormach 15L Slant Pro lathe with gang tooling.
Mass production machining
I use a production/job shop in Shenzhen, China occasionally. If you want to go into production I can give you their contact info.
PVD (Photo Vapor Deposition) Coating
Richter Precision
http://www.richterprecision.com/
I’ve used their services to coat titanium. If you need a coating to increase the wear resistance of a material contact them. Minimum order charge is $250 though.
Powder Coating
http://www.sunsetpowdercoating.com/
For a nice (but heavy) finish on metals, you may be able to get a discount for their services. They take about a week or two and can coat large items. Anything smaller than a 1 gallon bucket probably shouldn’t be coated though.
They also do nice powdercoating. Both located in Pearl City.
Electronics
Sparkfun
Good tutorials and tested components that integrate nicely with Arduino
Adafruit
Good tutorials and tested components that integrate nicely with Arduino
Mouser
Pretty much carries everything.
Digikey
Pretty much carries everything. The Hawaii Space Flight Laboratory buys many components from them.
Ebay
If you’re purchasing cables, crimps, transistors, voltage regulators, relays, or Arduinos I suggest using ebay. And Arduino Uno usually runs $24 but you can buy one off of Ebay for $6.
PCB (Printed Circuit Board) Manufacturing
Bay Area Circuits
If you need a printed circuit board to consolidate electronics like I did for Biomed Senior Design team in 2016, I highly recommend these guys.
Tips: Get the student discount option. An order will cost $50 (that includes shipping) and I suggest you select just 1 board. They usually give 4 minimum boards regardless of what option you choose. They also do take 5 business days to make and ship.
If you’re interested in making thousands of PCBs I work with a PCBA (printed circuit board assembly) manufacturer in Shenzhen, China and as long as you specify or send components they can assemble it all for you, so you don’t need to do any soldering. You will need to wire money in full though.
PCBway
They’re located in China and I’ve used their services with no problem. You can get boards for as little as $20 with shipping included.
CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing) Software
Fritzing
I personally started designing circuit boards with Fritzing, but my EE friends call it a toy. If you need simple PCBs and don’t want to spend 3 hours learning how then Fritzing is a good place to start. It also has many Arduino related boards so it’s easy to design your own shields.
Eagle
If you want to use a more versatile and professional software I recommend Eagle. It’s what I use now. Free version comes with the ability to make 2 layer boards and come with libraries full of parts. Making components is also very easy. When designing boards you’ll be using a lot of EE211 concepts.
Here is the tutorial I used to learn how to make the software.
https://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/110
You’ll need this CAM device (just download it)
https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/using-eagle-board-layout/generating-gerbers
Manufacturers use Gerber files
Cambam
https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/using-eagle-board-layout/generating-gerbers
I use Cambam to program my CNC routers. It’s free and really easy to use as long as you have a basic understanding of milling. It also generates toolpaths and G code for you. Tip, when you generate code you may want to check all your Z commands and make sure you don’t anything that will cause the spindle to crash into the part/table.
Fusion 360
This is a version of HSM works. Its free for students and very easy to use. I use this all the time to program my CNC machines and do simple CAD work. I do not recommend it for larger scale CAD projects or assemblies as it is cloud based and loads slowly.
Creo Parametric
This is CAD 3D modeling software and especially for rapid prototyping, I prefer using it over Solidworks. Although I may be biased and have used it for about 8 years. It’s free to download and is more popular on the east coast.
http://www.ptc.com/academic-program/products/free-software
Coding Resources
https://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/
Good IDE for Python, Jetbrains makes a bunch of other good free IDEs
If you want to make a GUI that processes data from Serial port (like from Arduino), Processing is an easy one to start with.