Please note that Personal Protective Equipment – Safety Glasses, Closed Toe Sturdy Shoes, etc. are required in all Academic Facilities*
Please click the links below to visit the individual pages for each facility.
The CCS Academic Facilities are ready for you to get to work!
All shops are open on the first day of class for student use.
Personal Protective Equipment to include safety glasses and closed toe shoes are required in all Academic Facilities.
The Academic Facilities Hours
Ford Campus – Kresge-Ford Building B side
B109 Metal Shop
B107 Foundry
B104 Blacksmithing (Crafts)
B112, Wood Shop
(in B112) Spray Booth
B207B Laser cutter
Taubman Campus
T1113 Model Shop
T1111 Digital Fabrication
T1110 Spray Booth
T1114 Laser cutter
Monday-Friday – 8:30 a.m. – 10 p.m.
Saturday – 12 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Sunday -12 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Digital Fabrication Lab (Taubman) – Monday – Friday 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. only
Ford Laser cutter
Taubman Laser cutter
*60 minute maximum reserve time, please.
Monday -Friday 9 a.m. – 9 p.m.
Saturday & Sunday 12:30 – 6:30 p.m.
The Academic Facilities page has more detailed information regarding each shop. This can be found on the Access Manager page under the Campus Offices tab.
Equipment requirements or what to wear:
- Safety glasses are required in all Academic Facilities.
- Closed-toe shoes are required in all Academic Facilities.
- Long sleeve shirts and pants are required in the Metal Shop areas. Please do not wear skirts or skin revealing clothing. Wear fire resistant natural fibers like cotton, denim, silk, and wool, this includes face masks, scarves, bandanas and hijabs.
- Leather boots or sturdy closed toe shoes are required in the Metal Shop areas – shoes must be made of natural fibers and will protect feet from heavy objects, hot metal, cutting sparks, etc.
- Reminder: No sandals or open toed shoes please in any shop, ever.
- H20 in a closed container. Please stay hydrated and healthy!
Materials
- Bring what you think you will need.
- Wood Shop, Metal Shop, Foundry and Model Shop materials are available for purchase at the shop with Debit/Credit Card.
Thanks, and we look forward to working with you soon! – The Academic Facilities Team.
About Academic Facilities
Academic Facilities currently includes the Metal Shop & Foundry, Model Shop & Digital Fabrication Lab (CNC / rapid prototyping, laser cutting) and Wood Shop. These are a group of individually budgeted & managed shops that operate under the academic facilities umbrella. The Director reports to the Dean of Undergraduate Studies at the College. There is a direct line of communication with Academic Affairs.
Academic Facilities maintain consistent open shop hours to facilitate the needs of the students, faculty & staff. These hours are posted at the beginning of each semester and are aligned with the building hours posted by Campus Safety. Holiday hours will be posted and sent via email each semester.
Currently the educational structure for students to be able to work in all of the shops is to complete the Foundation course DFN 116 – 3D Techniques. Limited access to the Model Shop Digital Fabrication Lab and the Wood Shop is to complete DFN132 – Process and Making. Students who pass these courses with a C/2.0 or better are allowed access to the corresponding shops during their curricular tenure at the college. This provides for entry-level access and does not mean students can use every shop or every tool in the shop. Department specific courses are offered that build on these basic skills. Permission to use certain tools must be obtained from the Individual shop Manager(s).
The Digital Fabrication Lab, Foundry, Metal Shop, Model Shop, and Wood Shop are not instructional facilities. All faculty are responsible for teaching their students the tools and techniques they expect their students to use in the construction of finished projects.
Faculty must notify the shop managers if they wish to instruct their classes in any of the shops at the beginning of each semester. An Academic Project form is required with a copy of the course syllabus, a complete timeline, roster and support materials. These forms are necessary for any class project that needs to utilize the shop and will help us to schedule, communicate, and facilitate more effectively. These documents need to be turned in to the Department Chair and the appropriate Academic Facility Manager at the same time syllabi are due. The reasons for this are:
- Overall student experience, safety, and health precautions.
- Time lines and scheduled appointments to let the shop be better prepared for your class and identify potential overload. There are classes that are scheduled in the shops and shop classrooms that have priority for work space and equipment.
- Identify potential training, supplies, equipment, staff and budget needs.
- Faculty Training. A Faculty members personal understanding of how to use the shop equipment does not mean they are teaching consistent and proper safety techniques to students or know the limitations and requirements of the individual facilities.
- Open shop time is required for students who have course work in the shop for their curricular requirements. This open work time is at a premium with the current number of scheduled courses in the Ford Campus Academic Facilities.
Classes that wish to be held in the classroom within any Academic Facility; the Foundry, Metal Shop, Model Shop or Wood Shop for the entire semester need to be scheduled appropriately through Colleague. The curriculum, course content and learning outcomes for these courses will need to be developed and approved with the Director of Academic Facilities and the appropriate shop Manager to ensure that proper operation and safety protocols are included and competency is benchmarked.
If faculty are not capable to teach the techniques needed to complete an assigned project, the project should be modified to accommodate the skills of the instructor, or the instructor should give themselves ample time to learn the skills they wish to pass on to the student. Shop technicians and work-study are not necessarily qualified to teach faculty and students how to use equipment. Nor are they allowed to complete work for students or faculty during working hours.
A Mandatory Safety Orientation for each individual shop area is required for all faculty and staff of the college that would like to use the shops in their course curriculum or to utilize the shops in any capacity. There is at least one orientation session at the beginning of each semester. Contact the appropriate shop manager for scheduling. Please understand that these are an orientation and not designed to teach individual tools and equipment processes.
Forms are required for: Academic projects, Individual projects, Independent student projects. Hold Harmless Waivers are required for any visiting artist and anyone that is going to be in the shop in any capacity that is not enrolled or currently employed by the college; as they are not covered by any liability insurance.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation and we look forward to working with you!