MakerLab redesign · Concept 03 / 05 · Gallery
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Now on view · BIF Room 3030

State of the Art

Seven machines at the Illinois MakerLab

In 2013 the Illinois MakerLab opened as the world’s first business school 3D printing lab. Today it runs an entirely new fleet. Seven Bambu Lab printers, four of them dual-nozzle, print engineering plastics, several materials at once, and parts up to 34 centimeters tall. Five of the seven are the gift of Haoyang Xu and Yuxin Ning.

Installation view, State of the Art, Illinois MakerLab, 2026. From left: H2C, X2D, H2S, X1 Carbon, shown at relative size. Illustration.
On view
Weekdays during open hours. Closed now? See today’s hours under Visit.
Admission
Free to visit. Prints start at 10¢ a gram for Illinois students.
Organized by
Illinois MakerLab, Gies College of Business, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

On view

Four models, seven machines

Every printer on view is in daily use. Bring a file during open hours and a Guru will run it on the machine that suits it best.

Bambu Lab Shenzhen, founded 2020 H2C, 2025 Fused filament 3D printer with Vortek hotend change system. Build volume 330 × 320 × 325 mm Gift of Haoyang Xu and Yuxin Ning, 2026 2026.1.1–2 · Two on view

Six spare hotends wait in a dock beside the toolhead. The H2C swaps them in seconds, so one print can use up to seven materials without purging a nozzle at every change. Less purge means less waste and faster multicolor parts.

Works in
PLA, PETG, TPU, ABS, ASA, nylon, polycarbonate, carbon-fiber blends, PPA-CF
7Hotends
350°Hotend, °C
65°Chamber, °C
Bambu Lab Shenzhen, founded 2020 X2D, 2026 Dual-nozzle fused filament 3D printer. Build volume 256 × 256 × 260 mm Gift of Haoyang Xu and Yuxin Ning, 2026 2026.1.3–4 · Two on view

Two nozzles share one toolhead, so a part and its support can print in different materials and the support breaks away clean. The chamber heats to 65 °C, and HEPA and carbon filters clean the air inside.

Works in
PLA, PETG, TPU, ABS, ASA, nylon, polycarbonate, carbon-fiber blends, soluble supports
2Nozzles
1,000mm/s
65°Chamber, °C
Bambu Lab Shenzhen, founded 2020 H2S, 2025 Large-format fused filament 3D printer. Build volume 340 × 320 × 340 mm Illinois MakerLab Two on view

The largest machines in the room. A helmet, an enclosure or a full-size fixture prints in one piece, at up to 1,000 mm/s. Each H2S holds 3.6 times the volume of the Ultimaker 2+ printers the lab used before.

Works in
PLA, PETG, TPU, ABS, ASA, nylon, polycarbonate, carbon-fiber blends, PPA-CF
34cm tall
350°Hotend, °C
37Liters
Bambu Lab Shenzhen, founded 2020 X1 Carbon, 2022 Fused filament 3D printer with micro LiDAR. Build volume 256 × 256 × 256 mm Gift of Haoyang Xu and Yuxin Ning, 2026 2026.1.5 · One on view

The machine that made fast, enclosed desktop printing ordinary. Micro LiDAR checks the first layer and a camera watches for failed prints. On view here printing the classic tugboat test model.

Works in
PLA, PETG, TPU, ABS, ASA, carbon-fiber blends
500mm/s
300°Hotend, °C
1On view

Support for the fleet

This fleet is made possible by the gift of Haoyang Xu and Yuxin Ning.

The Illinois MakerLab gratefully acknowledges Haoyang Xu and Yuxin Ning for their generous gift of five Bambu Lab printers. Their gift of two H2C, two X2D and one X1 Carbon brought the lab to seven state-of-the-art machines.

Haoyang XuAlumnus, Gies College of Business
Yuxin NingAlumnus, The Grainger College of Engineering

Gift lot 2026.1Bambu Lab H2C × 2Bambu Lab X2D × 2Bambu Lab X1 Carbon × 1

Chronology

Thirteen years of making

From a single room of desktop printers to a fleet built for engineering materials.

  1. 2013

    The lab opens in the Business Instructional Facility as the world’s first business school 3D printing lab, co-founded by Dr. Aric Rindfleisch and Dr. Vishal Sachdev.

  2. 2014

    BADM 331 Making Things is offered for the first time. Students plan, design, make and market a product in one semester. It has run every spring since.

  3. 2016

    A 3D printing specialization launches on Coursera, built with Autodesk and Ultimaker, and reaches learners around the world.

  4. 2026

    A new fleet. Seven Bambu Lab printers replace the lab’s Ultimakers. Five are the gift of Haoyang Xu and Yuxin Ning.

Programs

Learn to use what’s on view

Student Gurus lead every workshop. Walk-in help during open hours is free.

  • Basic 3D Printing

    90 minutes
    $20

    How the lab works, the main printing methods, and what each one does well.

    Digital Maker Certificate

  • 3D Design with Tinkercad

    90 minutes
    $20

    Build your first printable object from simple shapes.

    Digital Maker Certificate

  • 3D Design with Fusion 360

    90 minutes
    $20

    Model functional, dimensioned parts in professional CAD.

    Digital Maker Certificate

  • 3D Printing with Generative AI

    90 minutes
    $20

    Design objects with generative AI, then print them. Some coding experience helps.

Course

BADM 331 Making Things

Taught by Dr. Aric Rindfleisch every spring, Wednesdays 5:00–7:50 PM in BIF 3030. No exams and few lectures. Grades depend largely on how your product does in the market. Twenty-one seats, about three applicants for each.

Summer camps · Ages 10–17

$250 a week

Half-day camps each June and July. Summer 2027 dates are announced in early 2027.

  • Minecraft + 3D Printing10+
  • Adventures in 3D Modeling10–17
  • Generative AI + 3D Printing12+
  • Build Your Own Robot Arm12+
  • AI Robotics with Reachy Mini12+

Finish Basic 3D Printing, Tinkercad and Fusion 360 to earn the Digital Maker Certificate. No public workshops are scheduled for Fall 2026, so classes and groups can request one. Private lab reservations take up to 21 students.

Visit

Plan your visit

Closed on university holidays, during Spring Break and Thanksgiving week, and between semesters.

Fall 2026 hours

Monday1–7 PM
Tuesday2–7 PM
Wednesday4–7 PM
Thursday2–7 PM
Friday1–7 PM
SaturdayClosed
SundayClosed

Fall hours begin Monday, August 31, 2026. Times are Central.

Location

BIF Room 3030Business Instructional Facility
515 East Gregory Drive
Champaign, IL 61820

Admission

Free to visit. Gurus help walk-ins at no charge. You pay only for what you print.

Contact

uimakerlab@illinois.edu

Instagram and Facebook @uimakerlab

Pick up

Collect finished prints in Room 3030 during open hours. Small models ship anywhere in the US for $10.

Order a print

Send a file, or take something home

Upload an STL, OBJ or 3MF online, or bring it in. A Guru checks the model, picks the printer and emails your estimate.

Material, per gramWalk inOnline
Illinois students10¢12¢
Faculty, staff, alumni, departments25¢30¢
Everyone else35¢42¢

Plus a $4 base fee per print. Dual color or special filament adds 50%, and prints run by a Guru add 20%. Design and prototyping is $20 to $50 an hour, and 1-to-1 modeling lessons are $25 for 30 minutes.

Open the order form

Illinois objects, printed here

  • #Illinois150 keychain$2.00
  • Block I keychain$2.50
  • Block I for each major$2.00–$4.00
  • Block I, 6 in., one color$15.00
  • Block I, 6 in., two colors$20.00

Ask at the front desk or add one to your online order.

From the lab

Recent work

Projects from the lab’s blog.

“I had a great experience printing my STL files here. Will definitely print more!”
Luke Manthuruthil