The B-made Hub

There is a B-made Hub within each of B-made's two centre locations. The Hubs rent tools and sell consumables for use with B-made’s equipment and facilities.

Workshop Consumables

Laser-cutting materials

B-made has two different models of laser cutters. Please check the dimensions of the machines when you are setting up your files in line with the sheet material sizes listed below.

We stock laser plywood, acrylic and paper products for use on our laser cutters:

Laser plywood

Poplar plywood

• 3mm thickness | sheet sizes: (610 x 610) (610 x 1220)
• 6mm thickness | sheet sizes: (610 x 610) (610 x 1220)
• 9mm thickness | sheet sizes: (610 x 610) (610 x 1220)

Birch plywood

• 0.8mm thickness | sheet sizes: (610 x 610) (610 x 1220)
• 1.5mm thickness | sheet sizes: (610 x 610) (610 x 1220)

Acrylic sheet

Clear acrylic 

• 2mm thickness | sheet sizes: 
• 3mm thickness | sheet sizes: 
• 5mm thickness | sheet sizes: 
• 10mm thickness | sheet sizes: 

Coloured / special effects acrylic

• coloured / tinted / flourescent acrylic: 3mm thickness | 
• mirrored / frosted: 3mm thickness | 

Paper products 

• white Card / black card: A1 x 0.5mm / 1mm
• white card / black card: A2 x 0.5mm / 1mm / 2mm
• greyboard: A2 x 1mm / 2mm 

Dangerous / Unsafe Materials 

The following materials are not permitted on the laser cutters for the various reasons listed below.  Laser cutters burn through materials to make their cuts so some plastics, adhesives and resins are dangerous to use on laser cutters as they can emit toxic fumes or increase fire risks when they are burned:

ABS plastic	emits cyanide gas  / increased fire risk
Carbon Fibre	emits noxious fumes
Fibreglass	emits noxious fumes
MDF	clogs machine filters
Polyethelene	melts / increased fire risk
Polypropylene	melts / catches fire
Polystyrene	melts / catches fire
Polyvinyl Butyral	emits toxic fumes
PTFE plastic	emits hydrogen cyanide
PVC	emits chlorine gas and corrodes machine
Resins	emit toxic fumes

If you don't know, don't cut; 

If you are unsure about whether the material you are planning to laser cut is safe to use do not proceed with cutting it until you have spoken to a member of the B-made team.  The B-made Hub sells acrylic, paper, card and plywood that are all ideal for laser cutting.

3D printing materials

Learn more about our 3D printing services and 3D printers

The B-made Hubs now supply approved, high quality, recycled PLA filament.  We sell them without individual boxes to reduce waste and are able to offer them at a great discount to market prices. Students must use approved filaments for the bookable Desktop 3D printers. Other filaments cannot be used without permission from the 3D Printing Manager as they may be toxic, can damage the machines or can produce poor quality prints.  

2.85mm thick PLA filament in black or white 

 

Large sheet material | plywood / MDF 

B-made's large sheet goods come in 1220mm x 2440mm sheet sizes. In order to get sheets cut on the B-made tablesaw you must first complete a cut list and purchase the appropriate amount of material from the shop. Once issued a reciept, you can bring your cut list and reciept to one of our technicians who will cut the specified material according to the cut list.  

 

CNC milling materials

B-made no longer supports the use of dust producing boards on our CNCs. The associated health risks and HSE policies have impacted the discussion to protect air quality for Students and Staff. We now offer model board that ‘chips’ as it is milled, creating a safer by-product during milling.  MDF is not permitted on the CNCs.

More

 

The Hub also sells various other consumables but while social distancing measures are in place, no one will be able to enter the physical shop and stock will be reduced while we operate primarily from our online shop. Please also be aware that the Hub must only order through UCL approved suppliers and that the Hub is there to support B-made operations, so though we always strive to bring in quality materials at fair prices, we are limited in what we can reasonably supply. 

Resin 

B-made respects and supports the Bartlett’s resin policy and does not permit resin use in the workshops. It is an unsustainable material with various hazardous by-products during and after casting (sanding / finishing etc.). There are health and environmental concerns that surround the use of resin so the school’s duty of care to everyone’s safety supersedes the design opportunities this material presents. 

All resin is banned entirely. The Bartlett prohibits the casting of resin by Bartlett students, indoors or outdoors, on or off College premises. No work, cast in resin will be accepted as part of a portfolio submission. Student work that contains resin is removed from shows. 

This includes expanding foams. Expanding foams are hazardous to health and highly flammable.

Spray-paint 

B-made only supports the use of water-based spray paints in the Bloomsbury Workshop location. There are no spray-painting facilities at Here East. The B-made Hub now stocks and sells water-based spray-paints below market prices to ensure that students can reliably use water-based spray-paints.