Engineering student Alexa Miller positions a bit on a computer-controlled router before cutting decorative rings on a 2x2-foot plywood slab. (UWM Photo/Troye Fox)
Some sides of the cubes are decorated with raised rings. Other sides are embellished with hollowed out rings. With a piece of plywood on top to modulate the impact, Will Marshall (science education) pounds loose the rings gouged out on the plywood below. (UWM Photo/Pete Amland)
After the “teeth” for the interlocking joints are cut around the rims, the 2x2 slabs go to the sanding crew: engineering students Justin Davis (from left), Jacob Seifert, Ryan Confer and Caleb Marks. Prototyping club president Bobby Erickson (right) explains that the teeth of each piece need to be sanded by hand. (UWM Photo/Pete Amland)
Finished cubes are painted on the inside only. The taping-and-painting station is staffed by Ryan Severson (from left, engineering), Gary Dalton (special student), Jeremy Wissell (engineering), Lucas Smith (undecided), Quinn Anderson (engineering) and Rand Czajkowski (engineering). (UWM Photo/Pete Amland)
Engineering student Jeremy Wissell is careful to keep the paint from seeping onto the cross-sectional cut around of the teeth. (UWM Photo/Pete Amland)
Math student Bobby Erickson shows off the finished product: Polyurethane on the unpainted sides brings out the grain and shows off the striped feature of the “teeth.” (UWM Photo/Pete Amland)
The finished cubes will be used at the new Lubar Entrepreneurship Center, which opens May 8. (UWM Photo/Pete Amland)
When the Lubar Entrepreneurship Center and UWM Welcome Center open this week, the building will include some versatile furniture built by UW-Milwaukee students.
Some 20 modular cubes can be used for seating and coffee tables, grouped to form a stage or stacked to divide a room.
The cubes were built by the UWM Prototyping Club in the campus maker space on the first floor of the EMS building. The club is a frequent user of the maker space, which is open to any UWM student who wants to build, well, almost anything.
