Fab lab

Amsterdam Fab Lab at The Waag Society

A fab lab (fabrication laboratory) is a small-scale workshop offering (personal) digital fabrication.

A fab lab is generally equipped with an array of flexible computer controlled tools that cover several different length scales and various materials, with the aim to make "almost anything". This includes technology-enabled products generally perceived as limited to mass production.

While fab labs have yet to compete with mass production and its associated economies of scale in fabricating widely distributed products, they have already shown the potential to empower individuals to create smart devices for themselves. These devices can be tailored to local or personal needs in ways that are not practical or economical using mass production.

History

The fab lab program was started in the Media Lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a collaboration between the Grassroots Invention Group and the Center for Bits and Atoms (CBA) at MIT, broadly exploring how the content of information relates to its physical representation, and how a community can be powered by technology at the grassroots level. While the Grassroots Invention Group is no longer in the Media Lab, The Center for Bits and Atoms consortium is still actively involved in continuing research in areas related to description and fabrication but does not operate or maintain any of the labs worldwide (with the exception of the mobile fab lab).

The fab lab concept also grew out of a popular class at MIT (MAS.863) named "How To Make (Almost) Anything". The class is still offered in the fall semesters.

Popular fab lab equipment and projects

Flexible manufacturing equipment within a fab lab can include:

• Laser cutter, plasma cutter, water jet cutter, knife cutter: sheet material cutting
• 3-axis CNC machines: 3 or more axes, computer-controlled subtractive milling or turning machines
• Rapid prototyper: typically a "3D printer" of plastic or plaster parts
• Printed circuit board milling: 2 dimensional, high precision milling to create circuit traces in pre-clad copper boards
• Microprocessor and digital electronics design, assembly, and test stations

FabFi

Main article: FabFi

One of the larger projects undertaken by fab labs include free community FabFi wireless networks (in Afghanistan, Kenya and the US). The first city-scale FabFi network, set up in Afghanistan, has remained in place and active for three years under community supervision and with no special maintenance. The network in Kenya, building on that experience, started to experiment with controlling service quality and providing added services for a fee to make the network cost-neutral.

See also

• 3D_printing#3D_printing_services
• RepRap - The RepRap project aims to produce a free and open source software (FOSS) 3D printer.
• Open Source Ecology
• Repair Café
• Hackerspace
• Open design

Further reading

• Gershenfeld, Neil A. (2005). Fab: the coming revolution on your desktop—from personal computers to personal fabrication. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-02745-8. 
• Walter-Herrmann, Julia & Bueching, Corinne (2013)(eds.) FabLab - Of Machines, Makers and Inventors. Bielefeld, Germany: Transcript. ISBN 978-3-8376-2382-6

External links

• Fab Lab tools at MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms
• Fab Academy provides advanced digital fabrication instruction for students through a unique, hands-on curriculum and access to technological tools and resources.
• Fab@Home Home Page
• List of Fab Labs
• Fablab tutorials
• Fab Lab International is an association of individuals interested in and/or involved in the Fab Lab community. It is a democratic organization run by its members.
• What’s so Fab about Fab Labs? : The Innovation Interview with ‘Collaboriginal’ Peter Troxler]