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 from "open source designs". Both purposes 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 of a Solid Freeform Fabrication system:

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 21:22, 23 June 2009 (UTC))

The first Fab Lab emerged at MIT under the direction of N. Gershenfeld. It included a laser cutter, a miniature milling machine and jigsaw cutting machine.

The Fab Lab movement also is anchored in ecological thinking. “Think of RepRap as a China on your desktop” (Chris di Bona). Materials used are no much polluting and there is no transportation cost.

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 (CAD) with CNC.
1970
Dr. Mohamed Hashish created a technique to add abrasives to the water jet cutter
1986
3D-Printing
2005
Neil Gershenfeld's et al. MIT class 863.04 - how to make (almost) anything.
2006
The RepRap prototype
2007
Neil Gershenfeld and Joe Jacobson MIT class How To Make Something That Makes (almost) Anything.

Technology - Tools

There exist several popular technologies, some of which are described below in more details. Most fall in the category of solid freeform fabrication tools and that include:

  • 3D printers
  • Laser cutters
  • cnc machines
  • Automated paper cutters
  • 3D Sanners (for replication)
  • Laser sintering

Solid Freeform Fabrication overview

Fab@Home Fabber model 1, 2007: Source fabathome.org

“Freeform Fabrication is a collection of manufacturing technologies with which parts can be created without the need for part-specific tooling. A computerized model of the part is designed. It is sliced computationally, and layer information is sent to a fabricator that reproduces the layer in a real material” (Laboratory of Freeform Fabrication, UTexas, retrieved 14:13, 24 June 2009 (UTC)). Commercial "low-cost" free form fabricators range between 20'000 and 300'000 $US. Open source kits are much cheaper (see below)

Currently, low-end commercial 3D prototypers are still costly for individuals who want to "play" or schools. On June 2009, the cheapest 3D printer we found cost $5000 from Desktop Factory, the next one was "Dimension uPrint" and cost £12000. In addition you need to buy materials and solidifiers. According to [ Wikipedia] (retrieved 14:13, 24 June 2009 (UTC)), “Prototypes made by these low-end commercial machines cost around US$2 per cubic centimeter to fabricate. The RepRap Project is on track to produce a 3D prototyping machine and free and open source accompanying software that costs about US$400 to build and which can fabricate objects at a cost of about US$0.02 per cubic centimeter.”

Fabbers

Low End Solid Freeform Fabrication tools, also called rapid prototype machines are usually a kind of 3D printers. “3D printing is a unique form of fabrication that is related to traditional rapid prototyping technology. A three dimensional object is created by layering and connecting successive cross sections of material. 3D printers are generally faster, more affordable and easier to use than other additive fabrication technologies. While prototyping dominates current uses, 3D printers offers tremendous potential for retail consumer uses.” (Wikipedia, retrieved 14:13, 24 June 2009 (UTC)).

There exist various kinds of 3D printers, e.g. Inkjet where layers of powder (e.g. plaster, corn starch or resins) are selectively bonded or photopolymer machines that fix liquids with an UV flood lamp. A low-cost fabber, typically includes a kind of "gun" that heats up polymer plastic from a filament and then extrudes a fine stream to build things.

Very low-cost non-proprietry 3D printers are ofter called Fabbers. The Fab@Home project (retrieved June 2009) “is a project dedicated to making and using fabbers - machines that can make almost anything, right on your desktop. [...] Fabbers (a.k.a. 3D printers or rapid prototyping machines) are a relatively new form of manufacturing that builds 3D objects by carefully depositing materials drop by drop, layer by layer. With the right set of materials and a geometric blueprint, you can fabricate complex objects that would normally take special resources, tools and skills if produced using conventional manufacturing techniques. A fabber can allow you to explore new designs, email physical objects to other fabber owners, and most importantly - set your ideas free. Just as MP3s, iPods and the Internet have freed musical talent, we hope that blueprints and fabbers will democratize innovation.”

RepRap self-replicating 3D printer

RepRap is another well know project. “RepRap is short for Replicating Rapid-prototyper. It is the practical self-copying 3D printer shown on the right - a self-replicating machine. This 3D printer builds the parts up in layers of plastic. This technology already exists, but the cheapest commercial machine would cost you about €30,000. And it isn't even designed so that it can make itself. So what the RepRap team are doing is to develop and to give away the designs for a much cheaper machine with the novel capability of being able to self-copy (material costs are about €500). That way it's accessible to small communities in the developing world as well as individuals in the developed world. Following the principles of the Free Software Movement we are distributing the RepRap machine at no cost to everyone under the GNU General Public Licence. So, if you have a RepRap machine, you can use it to make another and give that one to a friend...” (What is RepRap?, retrieved 14:13, 24 June 2009 (UTC)).

Until recently, fabbers had to be assembled by the end-user using open designs and low-level parts, i.e. many many days of bricolage. However, some fabbers now can be bought commercially as easy kits or fully assembled. E.g. in June 2009, the NextFab Store sold kits for about $3000 and assembled Fab@Homes for about $4000. Bits from Byte sold a ReRap kit (Version 3 - RapMan) for about £750.

Cutters

Laser cutters and engravers

Laser cutters and engravers can process any non-metal material (e.g. acrylic, ceramics, cork, fiberglass, glass, plastic, leather, paper, stone, wood).

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 21:22, 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.

Selective Laser sintering

“In the Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) process, three-dimensional parts are created by fusing (or sintering) powdered thermoplastic materials with the heat from an infrared laser beam.” (Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), SLS Prototype, retrieved 14:13, 24 June 2009 (UTC)).

“Selective laser sintering is an additive rapid manufacturing technique that uses a high power LASER (for example, a carbon dioxide laser) to fuse small particles of plastic, metal, ceramic, or glass powders into a mass representing a desired 3-dimensional object. The laser selectively fuses powdered material by scanning cross-sections generated from a 3-D digital description of the part” (Wikipedia, retrieved 14:13, 24 June 2009 (UTC)).

This technology looks rather complex and expensive, compared to low-end 3D printers...

Stereolithography

“Stereolithography is a common rapid manufacturing and rapid prototyping technology for producing parts with high accuracy and good surface finish. A device that performs stereolithography is called an SLA or Stereolithography Apparatus.” (Wikipedia, retrieved 14:13, 24 June 2009 (UTC)).

SLA is too expensive for fab labs (between $100,000 and $400,000)

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 Scanners

An alternative to designing objects is to scan them. 3D scanners can be bought for about $3000.

Software and Formats

File formats

.STL
.PLY
OBJ
VRML
XYZ
STEP
IGES

Software

  • ReplicatorG is the software that will drive your CupCake CNC, RepRap machine, or generic CNC machine. You feed it GCode, it parses the GCode, and then controls your machine via a driver. Its cross platform, easily installed, and is based on the familiar Arduino / Processing environments.

Links

Fab Labs and rapid prototyping

Rapid Prototyping Technologies at a Glance]

Numerical control

Cheap open source 3D printers

Fab@Home 3D printer
  • 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.
Reprap 3D printer
Cupcake
Cupcake is a 3D printer that works with four kinds of plastic, e.g. ABS (Lego-like) and HDPE (milk-jug like).
Other links

Commercial entry-level 3D printers

Water jets

CNC mills

Selective Laster Sintering (SLS)

Stereolithography (SLA)

New technology mags and communities

Most manufacturer pages also point to interesting extra resources...

Fab Labs

Bibliography

  • Gershenfeld N., (2005) FAB: The Coming Revolution on Your Desktop – From Personal Computers to Personal Fabrication, Basic Books.
  • Editors' Review (2005). Desktop Factories - FAB The Coming Revolution on Your Desktop -- from Personal Computers to Personal Fabrication By Neil Gershenfeld, Basic Books, Business Week, May 2 2005.
  • Gershenfeld N. Think Globally, fabricate locally, PrincipalVoices.com. PDF (reprint)
  • Jenweill, Mark, Fab Labs unshackle imaginations, USA Today, 11/6/2005.
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