The fall semester 2019 was a record with regard to the use of the wood shop. More people took advantage of the various types of training than ever before. The shop is well-equipped with table saws, miter saws, a panel saw and multiple band saws. Included are a 12″ jointer/planer, a 20″ planer, a 25″ drum sander, a mortiser, a shaper and a wood lathe.
The TEAM Lab offers three different seminars in woodworking, along with periodic workshops, and now has more flexibility with regards to personal projects. A woodworking club was in the works when ECB flooded and then COVID shut down the shops earlier this year, but we hope to restart again soon.
Projects range everywhere from personal projects and rough prototypes, to finished designs, 170-course projects to Capstone Senior Designs. Some of the most creative have been personal workshop projects.
Ryan Berthiaume glued, planed and prepped the wood for his guitar in the TEAM Lab woodshop, cut out the body on the CNC router at the UW Makerspace and then back again to the TEAM Lab for the detailed, finish work (holes in the cheese and routing the wood for the pickups). The difference is in the details, he cut up a real cheese grater to decorate the headstock. Rock on.
“Thank you! Honestly, the help I got from the TEAM lab staff on all of my projects was the key to making them successful. I couldn’t recommend TEAM Lab more! I wish I had started with you all earlier or even gotten a job there when I was in school. “
Anne Marie Kozol was taking a distance course in Architecture from the UW Milwaukee when she came up with this Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired design for a clock.
A common project used in training is the ever-present cutting board, an excellent way to practice using the table saw and jointer/planer. Jan Maroske made this one with two different types of wood, using the contrasting colors of maple and walnut as a design element.
“I spent quite a bit of time in the shop during my final semester, and it was the first time I had ever built anything from scratch by myself. From picking out the wood to applying mineral oil to the finished piece, I was able to see the project from start to finish, and it was entirely my own. The shop gave me an outlet to showcase my creativity and taught me practical skills that I had never learned in any of my engineering courses…”
-Sarah Yoon ME ’19
It is widely known among the engineering community and industry how important hands-on practical skills are out in the workforce along with the theoretical side of an engineering degree.
Our goal here in the TEAMLab is to help make sure our engineering students are equipped with the practical skills required by industry.