Artisan and Fabrication Lab, Purdue University


Purdue University

AFL

Artisan and Fabrication Lab (AFL)

The AFL is open to ALL students, faculty & staff at Purdue!


Location

Lab Overview
Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering, Room B089
701 West Stadium Avenue
Click for Google Map Location
 

Contact Information

Phone: 765-496-2114
Email: afl@purdue.edu
 

Announcements

Welcome back students! The AFL will be open Monday - Friday from 9am - 5pm during the fall semester!


Hours of Operation

  • Monday: 9a - 5p
  • Tuesday: 9a - 5p
  • Wednesday: 9a - 5p
  • Thursday: 9a - 5p
  • Friday: 9a - 5p
  • Saturday: Closed
  • Sunday: Closed

Introduction Video to the AFL


Accessing the AFL

New to the AFL? Click here for information about accessing the AFL.

Current AFL Users: click here to submit a project.


About

The Artisan and Fabrication Laboratory (AFL) is a lab designed to provide students at Purdue with hands-on access to a state of the art manufacturing facility. Equipment available in the AFL ranges from CNC mills and lathes to wood working machinery, and includes unique capabilities such as 5-axis machining, water-jet cutting, laser cutting, and a 3-D gantry sheet router.

The AFL is comprised of 5 spaces in the lower level of the Armstrong Hall of Engineering. These spaces include the following facilities:
- Artisan Lab: for working with woods, plastics, etc.
- Fabrication Lab: for working with metals and fabrication
- Unclean Room: an area with a small fume hood to perform small painting/glue tasks (aerosol paint only)
- Demonstration Studio: for developing and simulating CAD/CAM programs to be used on the machines in the AFL
- Prototyping Studio: an area that houses three Rapid Prototyping machines

Lab Activity

The AFL is sponsored by the College of Engineering, the College of Technology, and the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship. The AFL is designed to be a completely student-based laboratory, which means that the lab is set up for student use while being overseen by lab employees to maintain safety. The goal of the AFL is to host student academic projects (including student organization projects), entrepreneurial projects, personal projects, and faculty research projects. As normal business practice, AFL users will work with the AFL Supervisor to schedule time on machinery and/or use equipment. When necessary, scheduling will be based upon the following priorities: 1) undergraduate and graduate academic projects, including student organizations; 2) undergraduate and graduate entrepreneurial projects; 3) funded graduate student research projects; 4) undergraduate and graduate personal projects.

A very welcoming, teaching, and coaching atmosphere has been established in the AFL which allows students to learn in a supervised, safe area. Safety is the top priority of the AFL, and several safety measures have been put in place for the machines. Use of the AFL requires the completion of a yearly safety contract and a short safety quiz.