Nolop will continue to be closed in the fall of 2020. However, there will be three specific services that we will start offering to the Tufts community around September 15th: 3D printing as a service, laser cutting as a service, and soldering as a service.
What does this “as a service” business mean?
It means that the doors of Nolop will be locked, but there will be a small number of student workers (1-3 each day) who will be laboring behind those doors to run the printers, laser cutter, and soldering irons on your behalf. You send us a file or drop off your circuit board and components, we do the work, and then drop the result on the table outside the door, hopefully within 24 hours. The links above have all the details.
Does this service cost money?
No. You do have to pay for materials for the laser cutter, like before, but we do the work for free. (The truth is that a donor gave us a large gift to cover the student workers for a few years.)
Do I have to be an engineering student to use this service?
No. This is for anyone at Tufts, for class work or independent projects, clubs, whatever. We’re trying to support you exploring engineering fabrication, regardless of your background.
So if this is free, can I use this as a manufacturing center and start a business on Etsy?
Please try not to be a jerk.
But what about clubs? Can we still meet in Nolop?
No, sorry. Really sorry. But the student workers can retrieve whatever materials you need from the Robotics/Make/SEDS cabinets.
But what if I’m just lonely?
If you’re looking for community and you have a Tufts email address, come join the Nolop Slack channel, where Brandon, a bunch of students and various other professors and staff are carrying on about 3D printers, Arduinos and whatnot.