Rapid prototyping equipment for hands-on learning, and a spirit of making.
The Experiential Learning Laboratory was inaugurated on 14 February 2022 by Dr. Hemant Kanakia, a Distinguished Alumnus of IIT Bombay. It holds a range of rapid prototyping equipment, put there to support hands-on learning and to encourage a spirit of making among students.
Before the ELL, student projects were largely limited to basic printed circuit boards and rudimentary packaging. With a lathe, laser cutter, CNC mill, 3D printers, a 3D scanner and a vacuum former in the same room, a project can now go from an idea to a housed, finished prototype without leaving the lab — which is what lifted the technology readiness level of Electronics Design Lab projects.
Detailed models, work volumes and tolerances for each machine are on the advanced facilities page.
A machining tool for shaping materials such as metal, wood and acrylic. It works on the principle of a rotating workpiece: the cutting tool feeds into the workpiece, which rotates and takes the required shape and size, removing unwanted material and leaving a cleanly shaped part.
An automatic laser machine that engraves and cuts material to the desired shape, with high precision and rapid cutting speeds. It cuts plywood, acrylic, paper, thermocol, MDF board and cardboard, and engraves acrylic, glass, leather, MDF board and marble.
In FFF 3D printers the filament is fed through a moving, heated extruder head and deposited on the growing work. The Julia Advance prints in a single material and the Julia Pro in two. Materials used are plastic filaments such as PLA, ABS and EVA.
The desktop milling machine uses rotary cutting tools driven by computer numerical control (CNC) to remove unwanted material and produce the desired workpiece.
The FormBox is a desktop vacuum former that makes moulds and packaging trays from casting sheets, and can produce a shape within a minute.
The desktop 3D scanner creates a digital 3D model of an object within minutes. It uses the white-light method, which makes capturing objects from small to large easier and faster, and gives a high-resolution model in one click.
Dr. Hemant Kanakia, an alumnus of IIT Bombay Electrical Engineering from the batch of 1975, is the founder of the Maker Bhavan Foundation. The idea of setting up a collaborative classroom and an experiential learning laboratory — to move electrical engineering education towards outcome-based learning — came from him.
The laboratory gives students access to world-class equipment, resources and knowledge, so that new practice can be folded into the existing engineering curriculum. It is the best platform in the department for developing the skills involved in actually creating a prototype.
Access to the prototyping equipment is arranged through the special facilities request. Students on project courses are inducted by the lab staff.
