Located just a few blocks from campus, the Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture’s Creating_Making Lab (C_ML) is a 7,000+ sf lab for students, faculty and staff in the college. In addition to the three bays of woodworking area, the lab also has a metal shop, laser cutters, a plastics room, a paint booth, a lecture area and a photo documentation room. Users are required to go through two levels of safety training before they can use the lab’s many resources.
The OU College of Architecture Creating/Making Lab is staffed Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm with two full time staff members and student assistances totaling 40 hours a week.
The facility contains a woodworking shop, a metals lab, laser cutter lab, plastics/toxics lab, paint booth, lecture area, and photo documentation room. The Creating/Making Lab is more than hand saws and continues to grow towards the future with technology and sustainability.
The Creating/Making Lab is committed to safety and proper use of the shop. All users must have scheduled training on all machinery before they can be given permission to use. Level 1 training covers shop basics, media cutter, panel saw, miter saw, band saw, belt and disc sanders, drill press, mortising machine and a few handheld power tools. Level 2 training covers tables saw, joiner, planer and surface sander. Laser training covers the basics, file setups and user interface. Metal shop, wood lathe and CNC router training is on an as need basis.
Laser Cutting:
Laser cutters allow users to cut and engrave materials up to a ¼” thick from their architectural software drawings.
CNC Routers:
Both routers are three axis machines and can be utilized for a project of all sizes and a multitude of materials.
Woodshop:
The Creating/Making Lab also offers its users locally harvested woods that are processed by the Shop’s sawmill and solar kiln. A variety of straight-grain and figured walnut, pecan, sycamore, oak, maple, cedar and Osage orange are available for students, faculty and staff for various departmental projects.
The dust collector for the shop is controlled by Ecogate, a computerized dust control system, which automatically turns the collector on and off when a user turns on a machine. This cuts back on noise and dust pollution in the shop.
Metal shop:
Jerry Puckett
Email: jerry.puckett@ou.edu
Matthew Reed
Phone: 405.325.0382
Email: matreed13@ou.edu
