Bechtel student employees demonstrate laser engraving skills on steel rails

Zachary T RodimelNews

In 2017, long-buried and unused steel railroad tracks were unearthed during West Lafayette’s State Street Renovation Project. Michael B. Cline, Purdue’s senior vice president for administrative operations, oversaw the State Street Redevelopment Project. To preserve the historic artifacts, he had as many of the steel rails unearthed as possible and had some of the better preserved rails cut into 4-inch …

Bechtel center provides access to industrial tools for student innovators

Zachary T RodimelNews

Let’s face it. When you need to slice through metal, a high-powered waterjet is almost never handy. However, the Bechtel Innovation Design Center (Bechtel) has changed that for the innovative students of Purdue University.   Bechtel is a makerspace on the Purdue campus that provides students with training and access to high-end equipment with which to build prototypes of their …

Bechtel center transforming how students create, learn

Zachary T RodimelNews

Students, faculty and staff have been settling in to the Bechtel Innovation Design Center (BIDC), a state-of-the-art collaborative learning facility which opened in September 2017.   “The Bechtel IDC is an outgrowth of the need for student project space on campus,” said Matthew Swabey, director of the center. ”It was understood that there was no available [project] space on campus. …

Basement electronics lab now open!

Matthew SwabeyElectronics, News

The basement electronics lab is now open in the BIDC. Please come on in, preliminary hours are: Mon 9am – 11:59am, 2:30pm – 5pm, Tues 9am – 5pm Wed 9am – 11:59am, 2pm – 5pm Thur 3pm – 5pm Fri 9am – 1pm, 1:30pm – 5pm

BIDC numbers to closeout 2017

Matthew SwabeyNews

Students registered: 628 Major Breakdown by School (all schools >3%): 28% Mechanical Engineering 23% Aeronautics and Astronautics 10% Purdue Polytechnic Institute 9% Electrical and Computer Engineering 6% Civil Engineering 4% College of Science 4% Other   Projects: 202 started/completed   3D printing: 433 prints completed, 19kg of material used

First five-axis CNC work at the Center, Haas VF-4 and TR160

Christina M PerryNews

This video shows the first undergraduate student five-axis CNC work being done inside one of our Haas VF-4 CNCs with a Haas 5-axis TR160 trunnion. The piece will be the engine block for a working rotary engine designed and machined entirely by Purdue undergraduate students. They are Tyler Field, Jake Piekarski, Clark Tow, Jacob Carson and the class professor is …

Facts and figures from the first few weeks of operation

Matthew SwabeyNews

132 projects registered, 35 completed. 223 students have completed the safety training to date. Machining continues to be popular, particularly the Waterjet cutter and the mills and lathes. 3D Printing (https://www.purdue.edu/bidc/start/3d-printing/) and lasercutting (https://www.purdue.edu/bidc/start/laser-cutting-and-engraving/) is another area where we are seeing a lot of projects!

The Bechtel Innovation Design Center has been dedicated!

Matthew SwabeyNews

On Saturday the 23rd of September, 2017 the Bechtel Innovation Design Center was dedicated by University President, Mitch Daniels and the Deans of the Purdue Polytechnic Institute and the College of Engineering, Dean Gary Bertoline and Dean Mung Chiang. Inside Indiana Business Purdue University Newsroom Purdue Polytechnic Newsroom