The best time to involve the FabLab is before a fabrication process becomes fixed in an assignment, research plan, or final design.
Early planning helps connect the project’s learning goals to realistic equipment, material, training, staffing, and scheduling requirements.
Project planning comes before machine scheduling.
This guidance is intended for:
An ordinary individual project may not need a formal planning conversation. A project should be discussed early if it involves unusual materials, many participants, repeated machine use, large quantities, advanced equipment, significant staff support, or a fixed public deadline.
A short individual job can become several weeks of machine demand when multiplied across a course.
For example:
Planning early allows the assignment and the FabLab’s capacity to support each other.
Start by explaining what students or participants should learn.
Do not begin only with:
“I need every student to use the laser.”
Instead, describe the intended outcome:
“Students need to understand how repeated components, tolerances, and assembly affect a physical system.”
This allows the FabLab and faculty to consider whether laser cutting, CNC machining, woodworking, 3D printing, hand fabrication, or a combination of methods best supports the goal.
The machine is a means, not the learning objective.
You do not need a finished design to start a planning conversation. Bring what you know and identify the choices you still need help making. It is fine to mark an item as unknown.
| Tell us | Include |
|---|---|
| Purpose | What students or participants should learn, test, or demonstrate. |
| People | The course or project, the person coordinating it, and the number of participants. |
| Output | The parts or objects, approximate dimensions, and total quantity. |
| Process and materials | Your proposed process and material, or the alternatives you want help comparing. |
| Timing | When files will be ready, the actual deadline, expected iterations, and flexibility in dates, quantity, scale, or process. |
| Readiness | Training already completed and file-preparation or process questions still unresolved. |
| Support | The demonstrations, staff assistance, or supervised work you expect to need. |
| Access and safety | Accessibility or accommodation needs affecting the process, known hazards, and unusual requirements. Discuss personal details privately with the appropriate staff. |
| Space | Where assembly, temporary storage, and any larger work would happen. |
| Resources | Who is arranging materials and covering applicable costs. |
| Completion | Who will collect the work, remove leftover material, and restore shared space. |
Discuss the whole class or project, not just the time needed to make one part. Testing, setup, supervision, repeated attempts, and cleanup also affect what is practical.
Start with the capability the project needs and ask whether an existing College resource could provide it. If additional equipment is being considered, discuss its location, access, utilities, training, maintenance, consumables, and staff support before committing to a purchase.
Identify who will operate and care for it during the project and what should happen when the project ends. These questions help establish a workable plan; purchasing equipment does not by itself settle space, access, or staffing arrangements.
FabLab staff may evaluate:
This review helps identify what the FabLab can responsibly support.
A planning conversation may result in:
The project is feasible with the proposed process, timing, quantity, and available resources.
The project is feasible if specific training, material, scheduling, supervision, or file requirements are met.
The project can be supported at a different scale, quantity, level of complexity, or number of iterations.
A different fabrication process may better support the learning goal or fit available capacity.
The work may be possible during a different period or through staggered access.
A small test may be needed before the FabLab can estimate time, material, reliability, or capacity.
Late or substantially changed work may be supported through remaining capacity but cannot displace previously coordinated academic work.
A vendor, another University facility, or a different production method may be more appropriate.
A changed plan is not necessarily a rejected project. It is often the path to a project that can actually succeed.
Faculty retain responsibility for:
Faculty should not promise machine access, waive training requirements, or assume unlimited FabLab capacity without coordination.
The FabLab is responsible for:
A planning conversation does not transfer ownership of the assignment to FabLab staff.
Students remain responsible for:
A course plan creates a pathway to access. It does not remove individual readiness requirements.
Laser reservations are made through UK’s EMS system.
An EMS reservation is downstream from project planning. It reserves a time but does not:
Large projects should be discussed with the FabLab before participants begin making individual reservations.
Physical fabrication is iterative.
A realistic project plan includes time and material for:
Avoid scheduling the first test immediately before the final deadline.
Contact the FabLab when there is a significant change in:
A small design change can create a large change in machine time or operational risk.