Repair Café
A Repair Café is a meeting in which people repair household electrical and mechanical devices, computers, bicycles, clothing, etc. They are organised by and for local residents. Repair Cafés are held at a fixed location where tools are available and where they can fix their broken goods with the help of volunteers. Its objectives are to reduce waste, to maintain skills around repairs and to strengthen social cohesion.[1][2][3][4][5][6]
History
The concept was devised by Martine Postma in 2009.[7] On 18 October 2009, the first Repair Café was held at Fine Wood Theater, Amsterdam-West. On 2 March 2010, the Repair Café Foundation was set up. The foundation was formed to support local groups in setting up their own Repair Cafés.[8] In September 2013, there were 150 groups in the Netherlands who held a Repair Café on a regular basis.[citation needed] In 2016 there are over 1100 Repair Cafés operating around the world.[citation needed]
3D printing of broken parts
Some Repair Cafés have begun to use 3D printers for replicating broken parts.[9] Broken pieces of domestic appliances may be able to be pieced or glued back together, after which they can be scanned with a 3D scanner. Examples of 3D scanners include David Starter-Kit, 3D Systems Sense, MakerBot Digitizer, Fuel 3D, Microsoft Kinect, and Asus Xtion.[n 1] Once the physical object is scanned, the 3D model is rendered. It can be converted to a .stl or .obj format and revised using geometry processing software such as makeprintable, netfabb, MeshLab, Meshmixer, Cura, or Slic3r.[n 2] It is printed using a 3D printer client, for example Repetier Host, Cura, KISSSlicer, ReplicatorG, Printrun/Pronterface, Slic3r, or Skeinforge, creating a physical part using the 3D printer. The complete process takes some time to complete.
To reduce the time needed in the Repair Café, people might choose to use a pre-made part from a website with 3D models (skipping the scanning step),[n 3] or make the 3D model themselves by taking many photographs of the part and using something like 123D Catch, and/or choose (in the event the Repair Café does not have its own 3D printer) to have the 3D model made in the Repair Café, but printed using a 3D printer elsewhere.[n 4] Alternatively a 3D printing service like Ponoko, Shapeways, and others can be used, and a person then return to the Repair Café to have the new part fitted to the broken equipment.
See also
Notes
- ^ Microsoft Kinect and Asus Xtion can be used together with ReconstructMe software for 3D scanning
- ^ Cura and Slic3r have some fixup tools, despite being mainly a slicer program
- ^ Examples of such websites are Thingiverse, CGTrader, GrabCAD, yeggi.com, youmagine.com, 123dapp.com, and Google 3D Warehouse
- ^ Via 3dhubs.com, or makexyz.com
References
- ^ "Global Village: Warum eine neue Bewegung aus den Niederlanden Toaster und Bügeleisen repariert " Der Spiegel, 26 May 2012
- ^ "Mehr reparieren, weniger konsumieren Westdeutscher Rundfunk, 29 July 2012
- ^ "Repair Cafe nu ook doorgedrongen in Duitsland" heute, 26 January 2012
- ^ "Dutch group mends broken items for free" Al Jazeera, 16 July 2012
- ^ "Repareren is weer in" VTM (TV channel), 1 December 2012
- ^ "Repair Café naar Elzenhof" Brusselnieuws, 3 January 2013
- ^ Sally McGrane, "An Effort to Bury a Throwaway Culture One Repair at a Time" The New York Times, 8 May 2012
- ^ Purvis, Katherine; Card, Nell; Palmer, Lucy (17 September 2014). "How to set up your own repair cafe". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
- ^ "Repair café maakt onvindbare wisselstukken met 3D-printer" Het Belang van Limburg