Digital Fabrication Studio

Material Resources

Below are suppliers or services we know and use regularly

Materials, Tools, & Services:

Local Hardware Stores:

Hardware Plus Inc

2211 Pennsylvania Ave, Baltimore, MD 21217

(410) 728 - 4400

~5 min drive from MICA

Waverly Ace Hardware

601 Homestead St, Baltimore, MD 21218

(443) 627 - 8893

~10 min drive from MICA

Falkenhan’s Hardware, Hampden

3401 Chestnut Ave, Baltimore, MD 21211

(410) 235 - 7771

~10 min drive from MICA

Tools and Hardware:

McMaster Carr - All things mechanical. Downloadable CAD, easy but expensive.

Harbor Freight - Super duper cheap tools.

MicroCenter - Big Box Electronics and computers store (thumb drives to 3d printers)

CME Tools - Inexpensive quality CNC tools

Vinyl: 

US Cutter - We use 24” Oracal 631

3D Printing Filament: 

Polymaker - We use polyLite PLA and recommend you purchase the same type. Available in a variety of colors.

Laser Materials: 

Be sure to check our list of banned and approved materials here

MakerStock - digital fabrication friendly materials 

Ocooch Hardwoods for laser - 1/16", 1/8", 1/4" that work great for laser cutting or engraving

MICA Storecarries clear acrylic sheet and some other laser-cuttable materials

Blick - carries chipboard, but most plastic sheet cannot be used on our lasers

Plaza - carries chipboard. Most plastic sheet cannot be used on our lasers

Canal Plasticsinexpensive small quantities of acrylic (32” x 18” is our max for laser cutting)

Inventables - acrylic sheet in any color at reasonable prices

The following vendors sell acrylic in 4’ x 8’ sheets. You must cut it down to size but it is much cheaper.

Harbor Sales - overnight delivery to station parking lot

Total Plastics - on Pulaski Highway

Piedmont Plastics - near BWI, courier delivery available

Solid Wood & Plywood:

Harbor Sales - overnight delivery to station parking lot

R. Thomas Frock - rough sawn wood. You must have taken a wood class in Fox to use this.

Chesapeake Plywood - $500 minimum for pickup, huge local selection of sheet goods

A and M Supply  - huge selection of building supplies and interior grade plywoods

Marjam Supply - building supplies, no fancy plywood, just construction supplies

Miscellaneous Supplies:

Michael’s - crafts store

House of Foam - foam of many kinds

The Loading Dock - non-profit building materials re-use center

DS Pipe and Steel - sells steel - no order too small

Smooth-on  - mold-making and casting supplies - Reynolds Advanced Materials is our local distributor for all things Smooth-on

Scrap Creative Reuse Center - recycled art supplies and fabrics

Second Chance - recycled building materials and furniture

Services:

MICA Art/Tech Center - provides large-format printing and vinyl cutting services

Sendcutsend - cheap and fast metal laser cutting

3D Models:

Smithsonian 3d digitization - lots of cool .stl files

Printables - free printable 3d models 

Thingiverse - free printable 3d models

McMaster Carr - many products can be downloaded as a *.STEP or *.SLDPRT by looking at the product detail page