CAP Fabrication Resources · Ball State University
You've used the laser cutter. You've submitted a 3D print. Now what?
The CAP Digital Fabrication Stack is your roadmap to becoming a complete digital fabricator — from advanced woodworking and CNC routing to large-scale cutting with plasma and waterjet. Every skill builds on the last. Every machine is more capable than the one before it. And none of it is as hard as you think.
The Through-Line
Before you can run a CNC router or send a file to the waterjet, you need to be able to model it. Rhino 3D is the design software that connects every machine in the CAP Fab Labs ecosystem.
Whether you're cutting sheet material, routing a complex surface, or preparing a plasma cut file, it all starts in Rhino. If you're not there yet, that's your first step — and Makercorps can help.
You completed Woodshop Tier 1 and Tier 2 as a first-year student. Now go further. Advanced woodworking combines hand skills with computer-controlled precision — joinery, surfacing, and full 3D routing from Rhino models. This is where your design skills and your making skills start to merge.
This is where things get serious. Plasma and waterjet cutting are among the most powerful fabrication tools available to CAP students — and they're more accessible than you'd expect. If you can prepare a Rhino file, you can cut steel. The metal shop gives you the hand skills to finish what the machines start.
Two modules currently in development — ceramic 3D printing and casting, and post-processing and surface finishing across fabrication methods. These complete the stack, adding material range and finish quality to your capabilities.
Interested in Electronics & Robotics?
Makercorps offers introductory modules in Arduino microcontrollers and robotics (M-05, M-06). But for students who want to go deep into electronics, embedded systems, and robotics, we're building a dedicated pathway in partnership with local robotics clubs and Ivy Tech Community College. If that's you, we want to hear from you.
Learn About the Robotics Pathway →Go Deeper
Makercorps offers focused 5-week short courses built around student demand. Each course goes deeper into a specific machine or workflow than the standalone modules — with dedicated time, guided instruction, and a project to show for it.
Take the Interest Survey →Where We Work
Makercorps operates across six Ball State-affiliated fabrication and industrial design spaces. Each facility has different capabilities — ask the team which one is right for your project.
The People Behind It
Makercorps is a group of students, faculty, and staff that collectively operate and manage CAP's digital fabrication and industrial design facilities. We're not a help desk — we're a community of makers who want to share what we know. Come find us in the lab.