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Welcome to The J. Mike Walker '66 Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University!

The J. Mike Walker '66 Department of Mechanical Engineering’s Rapid Prototyping Studio provides mechanical engineering students and faculty with education, supervised use and part creation services on rapid prototyping equipment. Materials for use in these machines are also sold in the studio. A variety of equipment and processes are available, including several varieties of 3D printing, laser cutters, desktop CNC machines, waterjet and plasma cutting, injection molding, vacuum forming, sandblasting/vapor honing, and CAD/CAM workstations.

Location: JCAIN 421/422

Hours: 9am-5pm

Email: meen3dprinting@tamu.edu

Once you have submitted your request, you can follow the status of the request on the “view my requests” tab. Once the requests are complete, an email will be sent to let you know that the parts are ready for pickup. Please note that any parts left past the end of the semester will be discarded or recycled.

Academic Information:

  • Available printing for all non-research MEEN classes.
  • Free (limited) personal printing to all MEEN graduate and undergrad students.

Research Information:

  • Low fidelity printing lead time is one to five days, depending on current research jobs and current academic printing.
  • High fidelity printing lead time is one day to three weeks, depending upon current research jobs, current academic printing and material availability. 
  • A technician should be able to provide an estimated start date upon receiving the quote sheet.

Laser Cutting Materials Guide:

Safe Materials:

  • Composite Wood
  • MDF
  • Paper, Card Stock
  • Cardboard (can catch fire)
  • Cork
  • Cloth- cotton
  • Felt- wool
  • Real leather
  • Acrylic
  • Denim fabric
  • Maple, solid
  • Mat board
  • Oak, solid
  • Rubber, laser grade
  • Walnut, solid
  • Anodized aluminum (Etching only)
  • Glass (Etching only)

Unsafe Cutting Materials:

  • ABS
  • Beryllium oxide
  • Carbon
  • Chlorinated plastics
  • Coated carbon fiber
  • Coated materials
  • Epoxy-based or phenolic resins
  • Fiberglass
  • Fluorine-based plastics:
  • PTFE (Teflon)
  • Fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP)
  • Galvanized metal
  • HDPE (High-Density Poly Ethylene)
  • Leather, Artificial or Chrome tanned
  • Materials containing:
    • Astatine
    • Bromine
    • Chlorine
    • Fluorine
    • Formaldehyde
  • Plywood containing
    • Flame-retardants
    • Halogens
    • Iodine
  • Mirrored surfaces
  • Nylon
  • Painted material
  • Varnished materials
  • Particleboard, paneling
  • Polycarbonate
  • Polychloroprene (CR or chloroprene rubber, marketed under the brand name Neoprene)
  • Polypropylene foam
  • Polypropylene sheet
  • Polystyrene foam
  • Polyurethane,
  • Polyurethane foam
  • Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
  • POM Delrin/acetyl
  • Rubber
  • Styrofoam
  • Wood that has been:
    • Coated 
    • Fumigated
    • Pressure-treated
    • Stained