MakerBot Innovation Centre at the University of Melbourne

The MakerBot Innovation Centre at the University of Melbourne sits inside the NExT Lab. In 2018 the centre served 2,600 students. The same year, the printer farm completed over 5,500 jobs and logged 36,000 hours of print time. It remains one of the largest Australian university 3D printing deployments on public record. Here is how the Melbourne School of Design built it, why MakerBot won the brand decision, and what Australian university 3D printing buyers should take from the project today.

Inside the NExT Lab makerspace at the Melbourne School of Design

Known as the NExT Lab, the New Experimental Technology Lab sits inside the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning. It is the design school's working answer to a clear question. How do you put first-year students in front of industry tools, on day one, at university scale.

Glass walls and a central campus position make the lab impossible to miss. Onlookers see directly inside. A floor-to-ceiling mirrored cube anchors the space and stops passers-by mid-stride. Inside the lab you will find virtual reality, augmented reality, 3D scanning and 3D printing, all under one roof. Melbourne's stated belief is clear: designers will play a key role in shaping the future by inventing the technology they use.

To carry the 3D printing demand at scale, the makerspace needed a foundation technology. Inside the mirrored cube sits a MakerBot Innovation Centre.

Why the school chose the MakerBot Innovation Centre

Several 3D printer brands went through testing before the MakerBot Innovation Centre purchase. Melbourne wanted reliable hardware, software for high job volumes, and Australian support. MakerBot's integrated ecosystem covered all three.

Jas Johnston, Fabrication, Innovation and Technology Manager at the school, explains the call:

"MakerBot was chosen because of the reliability and capability of the hardware as well as the seamless integration of the whole ecosystem, hardware, software and support. There were no other 3D printer brands that could provide all elements of this ecosystem."

Melbourne's own account names "a seamless and easy process which is vital for users that are new to 3D printing." At scale, small friction points compound. A confusing print queue in a small lab becomes unworkable in a 32-printer environment. MakerBot's integrated ecosystem keeps the queue moving, even for first-year students who have never touched a 3D printer.

Demanding test prints showed the same pattern. MakerBot produced complex geometries other brands failed to complete. For a research-focused design school, reliability under load was decisive.

32 MakerBot 3D printers up and running in a day with Alloys

Alloys, the Australian MakerBot distributor, installed all 32 MakerBot 3D printers in one day. On-site Alloys support has kept the MakerBot Innovation Centre running since 2018. For any Australian university planning a similar 3D printing setup, the distributor relationship matters more than the procurement spec sheet suggests.

Across Australia, Alloys handles MakerBot procurement, installation, training, and warranty service. Melbourne picked MakerBot in part because Alloys was already on the ground. A single-day install is only possible when the supplier knows the hardware, the software stack, and the building.

2018 results: 2,600 students, 5,500 jobs, 36,000 print hours

NExT Lab's 2018 figures give an honest read on a 32-printer university makerspace at full tilt:

• 2,600 students served in a single calendar year

• 5,500 print jobs completed

• 36,000 hours of print time across the printer farm

Undergraduate architecture and design students print pavilions made from experimental construction methods. Masters-level students produce scale models of their final designs. Local architectural firms book the lab for client presentation prints. The work runs across faculty boundaries and into industry, which is the point.

First-year access is the second data point worth noting. At most universities, students do not touch 3D printers until post-graduate work. At the Melbourne School of Design, first-year coursework includes the MakerBot Innovation Centre. Students run the design-test-iterate loop early. They build a working sense of how their CAD files turn into physical parts.

Beyond raw throughput, the MakerBot Innovation Centre has sparked guest lectures, startup collaborations, and cross-faculty projects. NExT Lab staff sit at the centre of this. They run introductory and advanced sessions, walk visitors through the equipment, and handle the technical problems other labs would push back to the supplier.

Jas Johnston on the MakerBot decision

Johnston summarises the decision in the original case study:

"One of the key reasons we selected MakerBot was the ease of use for students, within the MakerBot ecosystem, providing both the hardware and online submission interface and it was so streamlined and very simple for students to do and MakerBot had an amazing success rate us in sending through very complex and difficult prints that the vast majority of other printers couldn't manage to print. So it was that in combination as well with the innovation centre software having been tested and delivered in a number of different universities and other makerspace and things around the world, we knew that there was the hardware that we could count on, the software side and the local support that was provided if there was ever any issues"

Two themes carry through this quote. First, the ecosystem. Hardware, software, and Australian support together. Second, the pre-existing footprint. The MakerBot Innovation Centre software was already validated at universities and makerspaces worldwide before Melbourne committed.

What Australian university 3D printing buyers should take from the project

Australian universities planning a 3D printing facility in 2026 will not buy a 32-unit MakerBot Innovation Centre off the shelf. The current Australian MakerBot range is built around two product families. Together they cover the same use cases as the original 2018 deployment.

Built for engineering and large-build work, the MakerBot Method XL is the natural fit for masters-level prototyping and architectural scale models needing a bigger build envelope. For the first-year and undergraduate workload, the MakerBot Sketch family includes the Sketch Standard, Sketch Sprint, and Sketch Large. Sketch is built around the same single-ecosystem principle the NExT Lab valued: hardware, software, and support working together.

A multi-printer Sketch deployment, paired with one or two Method XL units, gives an Australian university a 2026 equivalent of the NExT Lab's MakerBot Innovation Centre at smaller scale. Alloys remains the Australian MakerBot distributor and handles installation, training, and warranty service. For pricing context on Australian university 3D printing budgets, see our 3D printer cost guide for Australia.

For a parallel university lab case study using UltiMaker hardware, see our Aalto University 3D printing lab story. Both case studies cover the same procurement question from two brand perspectives. For a wider view on why universities invest in 3D printing facilities, see our five benefits of 3D printing in higher education guide.

Frequently asked questions about the MakerBot Innovation Centre and Australian university 3D printing

What is the MakerBot Innovation Centre at the University of Melbourne?

The MakerBot Innovation Centre at the University of Melbourne is the 32-unit 3D printing installation inside the NExT Lab at the Melbourne School of Design. It combines MakerBot 3D printers, MakerBot queue-management software, and Alloys distributor support into one deployment. The centre serves undergraduate, masters, and external architectural users.

Which MakerBot 3D printer is best for an Australian university makerspace?

For an Australian university makerspace today, the MakerBot Sketch family covers undergraduate workloads at high reliability. The MakerBot Method XL covers larger masters and research builds. Most Australian universities deploy multiple Sketch units alongside one or two Method XL printers, supported by Alloys for installation and warranty.

How many students does a 30-printer MakerBot deployment serve?

In 2018 the MakerBot Innovation Centre at the NExT Lab served 2,600 students with 5,500 jobs across 36,000 print hours. On a 32-unit deployment, those numbers work out to roughly 170 jobs per printer per year. First-year and post-graduate students share access.

Who installs and supports MakerBot 3D printers in Australia?

MakerBot's Australian distributor is Alloys. Alloys handles installation, training, warranty service, and ongoing technical support. NExT Lab's 32 MakerBot 3D printers were installed in a single day by the Alloys team.

Are MakerBot 3D printers suitable for first-year university students?

Yes. At the Melbourne School of Design, first-year coursework includes hands-on access to the MakerBot Innovation Centre. The MakerBot ecosystem is built so students with no 3D printing background submit jobs on day one. The same design principle is why MakerBot works at K-12 and TAFE level, and why 3D printing in higher education has scaled past the post-graduate ceiling.

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3D Printer 3D Printer Australia 3D Printers 3D Printing Australia Alloys Education Higher Education MakerBot MakerBot Innovation Centre MakerBot Method MakerBot Method XL MakerBot Sketch MakerBot Sketch Classroom Bundle MakerBot Sketch Large MakerBot Sketch Sprint Melbourne School of Design NExT Lab University of Melbourne