Fab lab

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Introduction

A Fab Lab (fabrication laboratory) is a small-scale workshop with computer controlled tools with the aime to make "almost anything". (Wikipedia).

Fab labs can have different aims, e.g. rapid prototyping or low cost and on-demand manufacturing. Both purposing would include an idea of empowering individuals to create devices that are adapted to specific needs. The Fab@Home project emphasizes freedom of design and innovation:

Universal manufacturing embodied as today’s freeform fabrication systems has – like universal computers – the potential to transform human society to a degree that few creations ever have. The ability to directly fabricate functional custom objects could transform the way we design, make, deliver and consume products. But not less importantly, rapid prototyping technology has the potential to redefine the designer. By eliminating many of the barriers of resource and skill that currently prevent ordinary inventors from realizing their own ideas, fabbers can “democratize innovation” [1,2,3]. Ubiquitous automated manufacturing can thus open the door to a new class of independent designers, a marketplace of printable blueprints, and a new economy of custom products. Just like the Internet and MP3’s have freed musical talent from control of big labels, so can widespread RP (Rapid Prototyping) divorce technological innovation from the control of big corporations.

(retrieved 18:18, 23 June 2009 (UTC))

It's first instance emerged at MIT under the direction of Gershenfield. It included a laser cutter, a miniature milling machine and jigsaw cutting machine.

History

1940's

Birth of numerical control, i.e. machine tools controlled by code.

mid 1950's

Birth of special purpose programming languages for computer numerical controlled (CNC) machine tools.

end 1950's - mid 1960's

Birth of interfaces of Computer-Aided Design with CNC.

1970

Dr. Mohamed Hashish created a technique to add abrasives to the water jet cutter

Technology

Cutters

Laser cutters

Plasma cutters

Water jet cutter

“A water jet cutter is a tool capable of slicing into metal or other materials using a jet of water at high velocity and pressure, or a mixture of water and an abrasive substance. The process is essentially the same as water erosion found in nature but greatly accelerated and concentrated. It is often used during fabrication or manufacture of parts for machinery and other devices” (Wikipedia, retrieved 18:18, 23 June 2009 (UTC).)

According to Wikipedia, water jets can cut with a with of about 1mm and can cut materials such as rubber, foam, plastics, composites, stone, glas, tile, metals, food, paper and much more. Also, water jets can cut material without much harming or changing the materials' structures since there is no heat. I also can be considered a green technology, since it doesn't produce harmful waste. Water and abrasives can be recycled.

CNC mills

A milling machine (fr. "fraiseuse") is a machine tool used for the shaping of metal and other solid materials. It uses rotating cutters to cut stuff from a workpiece. In more sophisticated milling machines, both the cutters and the workpiece can be rotated in three axis.

3D printers

3D pinters also called or rapid prototype machines are are a relatively new form of manufacturing that builds 3D objects by carefully depositing materials drop by drop, layer by layer.

Low-cost non-proprietry 3D printers are ofter called Fabbers.

Links

Fab Labs and rapid prototyping

• Desktop manufacturing - Helping poor-world inventors, The Economist, Mar 23 2005.

• Rapid Prototyping Home Page

Hardware hacking / modified objects

• Hacked Gadgets

Numerical control

• Numerical control (Wikipedia)

Hardware

Water jets

• Waterjets.org
• How Water Jets Work

CNC mills

• The CNC mill project

3D printers

• Fab@Home, is a project dedicated to making and using fabbers - machines that can make almost anything, right on your desktop. This website provides everything you need to know in order to build or buy your own simple fabber, and to use it to print three dimensional object. Hardware designs and software on this website are open source.