BeAM Design Innovation Hub

Overview of Services

The BeAM Design Innovation Hub (BDIH) is a core facility physically located at the Gillings School of Global Public Health.  Our mission is to facilitate and complement research of all types by providing engineering consultation, design, fabrication, assembly, and select repair services in a wide range of disciplines.  Historically our facility was an instrumentation shop within the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering.  Now, the BDIH has evolved to become a key element in BeAM's support of research at UNC.

Our services include:

• Consultation on technical feasibility, manufacturability, materials selection, and availability of equivalent technologies;
• Prototype design and documentation;
• Assistance with sourcing and outsourcing;
• Design and fabrication of bench- and pilot-scale biological and chemical reactors;
• Selection and installation of sensors and instrumentation including process controllers and datalogging equipment;
• Design and fabrication of customized laboratory device holders, positioners, and alignment jigs;
• Research instrumentation modifications to extend analytical capabilities;
• Repair of obsolete instrumentation for which replacement parts are no longer available;
• Design and fabrication of field research equipment; and
• Design and fabrication of custom instrumentation enclosures for field work and long distance shipping.

Our equipment and capabilities include:

• Full machine shop including manual and CNC milling machines, Hardinge HLV-H precision toolroom lathes, Haas TL1 CNC lathe, drill press, and a wide array of fixtures and tooling to support precision machining of parts from plastics and metals
• ShopBot PRS Alpha 96-60 CNC Router Table for rapid and repeatable 2D, 2.5D, and 3D cutting of plastic and wood parts from large sheet stock
• A variety of power and hand tools for working plastics, wood, and other non-metallic stock.  These include miter saw, bandsaw, scrollsaw, drill press, planer, routers, sanders, drills, and their associated tooling
• 3D printing in a variety of plastics
• Plasma cutting, MIG welding, and TIG welding
• Grinding, sharpening, deburring, and polishing equipment and supplies
• Sheet metal working equipment including 52” shear, notcher, punches, slip rolls, and magnetic bending brake
• Basic electronics bench for instrument troubleshooting, circuit prototyping, and small scale electronics assembly
• 3D Design Computer Workstation for design of components and assemblies with integral CAM capability for translation to CNC machining files

Location and hours of operation

Contacts