General Information

Lab Use and Membership

• Membership fees are not required if you just want to come in and see what can be done, or just want to come in for a tour.

• Yearly membership fee is $50.00 per person or $75.00 per family (you and spouse) running from September 1st to August 31st

• Single day use fee of $10.00 per person with maximum charge of yearly membership cost

• Students enrolled in Wabeno Area School District have a free membership

• Specialty classes will have charges separate from memberships or day use fees

• Because the Fab Lab is located within the school, a background check is also required in order to gain membership.

• In order to use the Fab Lab you will need to sign and date our liability waiver form which can be found by clicking the link at the bottom of this page or completed at the Fab Lab.

• To use machinery, you will also need to take and successfully pass an exam specific to that piece of equipment. Our safety rules and procedures can be found by clicking on our Policies, Rules, & Procedures page. In order to pass the exam, you are required to get 100% of the questions correct. We will keep this on file for insurance purposes.

• Note that membership can be revoked at any time. Membership cancellation would be due to any one of the following reasons: Failing to follow the safety rules, abusing machinery or tools, being under the influence of alcohol or drugs, using tobacco, any other illegal activity, or not following decorum.

• Abuse to the machinery will be treated as vandalism, and the vandal will be charged with equipment replacement costs.

Electronic Data

The machinery within the Fab Lab is electronic, and therefore must be created and used through computers. Please keep in mind that if you come, we recommend you bring a "Jump Drive" (aka memory stick, USB stick, Flash Drive, Thumb Drive, etc.) to save your electronic data on. Why?

• For safety reasons, none of the machinery is hooked to the network or internet.

• You will need to transfer your data by use of a Jump Drive from Fab Lab computers to the machines.

• You cannot save your data to any of the Fab Lab computers. Any data on the computers will be deleted.

If you do not have one prior to your arrival, you may purchase one from the Fab Lab for $10.00. It is your responsibility to keep track of it and not lose it! We will not refund any lost drives.

Days of Operation

Always check our home page to see when we are open. Generally we are open throughout the school year from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm every Wednesday. However, it is ALWAYS recommended that you call the school at 715-473-2592, ext. 5115 during the hours of 7:30 am to 4:00 pm to make sure that the lab is open prior to your visit due to weather cancellations, staff inservice days, faculty illness, holidays, and etc.

Materials

While membership covers the general lab fee (if applicable), materials for community members need to be purchased and can be done so through the Fab Lab. If you would like to bring in your own materials, you are more than welcome! However, the material for the 3-D printers and the vinyl cutter will need to be purchased through the Fab Lab due to specific machine requirements.

If you are looking for a special type of material that we don't have in stock, we can get it for you. However, please keep in mind that any raw materials purchased will have the following minimum order sizes unless otherwise stated by the supplier, and you will be expected to pay the entire minimum order amount, including shipping or other associated costs. In addition, lead time will be subject to standard supplier lead times for those materials. Material pricing will be based on the material costs at the time of purchase.

Sheet Metal: 4' x 4'

Tubing: 12'

Bar Stock: 12'

Boards: 8'

Sheathing: 4' x 8'

The largest material we can hold and cut on the CNC router is 4' x 8'. The largest material we can hold and cut on the CNC plasma table is 4' x 4'. Please keep this in mind when determining what size of sheet steel you would like to get or bring in.

For specialty items, please bring more than you are intending to use. The reason for this is because sometimes things go wrong. For instance, if you are hoping to have engravings done on 6 wine glasses and you only have 6, keep in mind that one might break during the engraving process (this does happen). It is better to be prepared than not.

Training

If you would like training with one of our instructors, this can be done during normal community Fab Lab hours.. However, it is subject to scheduling during community workshop nights. All nights are shown on our main page.

If you have experience using the machinery in the Fab Lab and do not need any training, the only prerequisite required is successful passing of the safety exam(s) for the machine(s) you plan on using.

If you need additional training aside from the workshop training, you can find a number of different types on our Tutorials page. There you will find a listing of tutorials that are always being added. All are free to take.

Donations

If you would like to make a monetary donation to the Fab Lab, please contact the Fab Lab Director.

If you would like to make a material donation to the Fab Lab, please click on the link below to see what we are in need of. Please understand that if you make a donation of materials, you do so under the assumption that all may use it, and it is not for a particular class or a particular individual. It is also important to know that the Fab Lab may charge for its use when it is used by a student or a community member.

To make payments, please make checks payable to the Wabeno Area School District, and place "Fab Lab" in the memo area.