---
title: "What It Takes: 3D Printing (and Beyond) at Terrapin Works"
date: 2025-03-05T05:30:00-05:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/what-it-takes-3d-printing-and-beyond-at-terrapin-works"
section: Articles
---
# What It Takes: 3D Printing (and Beyond) at Terrapin Works

*March 5, 2025* — by [Karen Shih ’09](/author/karen-shih)


> Scanning Statues, Creating Custom Car Parts, Laser-Cutting Puzzles and More

*Terrapin Works MT SC 03042025 SC 5017 1920x1080 — Student workers at the "Fab Farm" in the Advanced Fabrication Lab of Terrapin Works. From left, Christopher Morin '25, Adam Brodsky '26 and Aditya Tejwani '27 install updates on filament-based 3D printers.*

Maybe you’ve always wanted to add a buff Pikachu to your action figure collection. Or to piece together a topographically accurate 2-foot-wide globe. Or to replicate your canine companion—sized to fit in the palm of your hand.

It’s all possible at the [Advanced Fabrication Lab](https://terrapinworks.umd.edu/facilities/advanced-fabrication-lab), the flagship facility of [Terrapin Works](https://terrapinworks.umd.edu/), a unit of the A. James Clark School of Engineering that provides design, education and manufacturing services to the University of Maryland community and beyond. Inside the lab on the second floor of A. James Clark Hall, you’re surrounded by the constant whirring and clicking of dozens of 3D printers and other complicated machinery, bins of colorful plastic scraps and plenty of student workers who are eager to help.


*Two 3D-printed student figurines and a buff Pikachu*


*A 3D filament printer in the process of printing an orange boat — A filament machine prints a 3D boat, a commonly used benchmark design*


*Blue gloved hands brush powder off of a mini Testudo — Brodsky brushes powder off of a freshly 3D-printed Testudo*




**Topics:** [Campus & Community](https://today.umd.edu/tags/campus-community)


**Tags:** [What It Takes](https://today.umd.edu/topic/what-it-takes), [Student Experience](https://today.umd.edu/topic/student-experience)


**Units:** [A. James Clark School of Engineering](https://today.umd.edu/topic/james-clark-school-engineering)