Thanks to the support of the Economic Development Administration (EDA) and the funds provided under the Project: 0679-06288, BRITE Energy Labs has been able to expand our capabilities and services to support prototyping and fabrication development for our entrepreneur members and the developers of our community.
We have recently opened our Fabrication Lab and outfitted the facility with a suite of additive
and subtractive manufacturing tools and machines.
Our new additive manufacturing resources consist of several 3D printers from MakerBot and Vista AST , capable of printing in many common prototyping and finishing materials such as PLA, ABS, Nylon, and Carbon Fiber. Our summer intern, Sahaj Thapa, had taken this opportunity to print and assemble a scale, cut-away, model of a two-spool high bypass turbo fan jet engine. His blog post on that project and his experience can be found here.
Additionally, for manual forming of metals, we have a fully operational machine shop with a milling machine, lathe, band saw, sanding, and metal forming equipment. These machines make it possible to dimension and form materials without the needed reproducibility provided by Computer Numerical Control (CNC). When there is need for those automated projects where you may have to create very intricate and detailed pieces, or when you just need to make more than a few, we also have two Bantam Tools Desktop CNC machines that can transform most metals, plastics, and even hardwoods into functional components.
For those developing and producing circuit boards, we can help you with this as well. Our two Voltera V-One circuit board printers allow you to drag and drop Gerber files directly into the software and print circuits on both the front and back of boards with automated through hole drilling, solder dispensing and reflow.
Of course, there is the issue of developing those 3D models or circuit paths to take advantage of these machines, and this is why we have licensed Fusion 360 to support this effort. Fusion 360 is the first and only integrated cloud CAD, CAM, CAE, and PCB software platform of its kind so that users can create and export models for 3D printing or CNC machining, as well as Gerber CAD files for schematics, layout, and manufacturing of your printed circuit boards.
We have also been fortunate enough to expand our capabilities by purchasing and setting up some key wet lab, battery, and microgrid support equipment. These include a new digital compound microscope for up-close and detailed inspection of your specimens and two new DC load banks from Keysight and Power House Manufacturing.
With these new capabilities, BRITE Energy Labs is ready to help you bring your ideas to life. After we help you build it, we can help you with testing and validation before connecting with our network of partner manufacturers to graduate your new product to full scale production.
