ThunderLab Makerspace

ThunderLab Location and Open Hours

The lab is room 106 in building 16 on campus.

MakerSpace hours vary from quarter to quarter. For Fall 2022, the lab will be open to anyone to visit and use the equipment Mondays and Wednesdays from 2-5 p.m.

Please e-mail Stephaney Pushlaski, spuchalski@highline.edu, for more information.

• To check out specific equipment to use outside the MakerSpace please fill in the Equipment Checkout Form.
  • Equipment is not guaranteed for checkout if it is already booked for other use.
• If you are a staff or faculty member wanting to reserve the MakerSpace for your class or a special project please fill in the Request to Use Makerspace Form.
  • A minimum of 3 business days is required for most requests.

What kinds of projects can I do with MakerSpace?

As it’s said in the makerspace world, the only limit is your imagination (and sometimes the equipment/supplies available, of course). To give you some ideas, the lab produced face shields and a variety of STEM teaching resources as pictured below. Although not all the projects we’ve completed are shown, these represent just a few of the thousands of teaching resources available on Thingiverse as well as possibilities for printing 3D scanned objects and custom designs drawn in Tinkercad.

A MakerSpace is not just for STEM though! Ideas on how to use MakerSpaces in humanities and writing classes.

Student 3D printing face shields that allowed classes to meet safely during the Covid19 pandemic.

3D printers available in the MakerSpace.

Fossils printed for Geology classes using 3D Printers.

Giant T-Rex skull 3D Printed and on display in MakerSpace.

What equipment is available?

•  Pasco ME-8236 Materials Testing Machine
•  Rayjet 300 C80 Laser Cutter Engraver (80 watt)
•  FLSUN QQ-S Pro 3D printers (x 2 units)
• Makerbot Replicator 5th Gen 3D printer
• Bosch 4410L Compound Miter Saw (3 Hp)
•  Jet 40” x 12 Ga Box & Pan Brake Foot Clamp
•  Delta Bandsaw
• BlueM Laboratory oven
• Baldor Grinder ½ Hp
• Rockwell Delta floor model Drill Press
• Bridgeport Vertical Milling machine (manual operation)
• DynaMyte 2400 CNC Vertical Milling machine (desktop but doesn’t seem to have operational software)
• Tinius Olsen ElecŌmatic Split Cabinet Universal Testing machine
• Delta Model 40-130 13” Scroll Saw ( x 2 units)
• Shop vac
•  Bench vise
•  Arbor press
•  Soldering irons/station
• Dell computer stations dual monitors (x2)
•  Power tools
  • Dewalt DW618 2 ½ HP router
  • Makita Router Model 3601B
  • Dremel Model 398
  • Rockwell Model 363 belt sander
  • Milwaukee heavy duty 7 ½ Circular Saw
  •  Milwaukee heavy duty Sawzall
  •  Bosch 1587AVS jigsaw
  • Makita cordless drill Model 6093D (no batteries or charger?)
  • Makita cordless drill 6347B (with 2 batteries & 1 charger)
  • Dewalt DC730 cordless drill (2 units with 2 chargers & three batteries)
  • Dumore Tool Post Grinder
• Hand tools in 2 rollaway tool boxes and metal cabinets
  • wrenches, pliers, hammers, socket sets, tap & die sets, etc.
• Supplies
  • Replacement blades for saws, drill bits
  • Various nuts/bolts/screws
  • Wood glue, white glue
  • Plexiglass, cast acrylic, wood, and paper stock for laser cutting
  •  Balsa wood rods, dowels, panels
  • Flammable Cabinet: cutting oil, paint, acetone, etc

Meet Stephaney Puchalski, our head lab tech!

In 2020, I became the Instruction & Classroom Support Technician 4 for Engineering, Geology and Physics as well as a supervisor of the biology and chemistry Techs. Previously, I was Geology Faculty at Highline beginning in Fall 2010, shortly before achieving a PhD from Indiana University in geobiology with a minor in geochemistry. My research focus at IU was understanding how things become, or do not become, fossils, a very broad field of study that included application of some physics and engineering principles that currently helps me be a better Tech 4.

Since duties of the Tech 4 position included managing the ThunderLab, a STEAM makerspace, I became a 3D printing, fabrication, and laser cutting/engraving enthusiast the last several years. I added 3D printing and painting realistic fossil replicas to my hobby of carving soapstone. I am happy to share what I learned with everyone that comes into the ThunderLab.