Het FabLab Den Haag is OPEN en haar machines en werkplekken zijn op afspraak beschikbaar.
Bel ons voor reserveringen op 070 – 3833188 of stuur een email.
Je vindt ons tegenover de Caballero Fabriek in het pand van creatieve broedplaats De Besturing, Saturnusstraat 89A.

In Memoriam Gertjan Willemsen

Na een ongelijke strijd tegen de ziekte die hem sloopte is – onverwacht snel en nog voordat de samenwerking tussen het CabFabLab en FabLab Den Haag tot dragen kwam – de manager van het CabFabLab Gertjan Willemsen, jongstleden februari overleden.

Zijn medewerkers, vrijwilligers en vrienden voelen de enorme leegte nu ze beseffen dat ze zijn gedreven en charismatische persoonlijkheid definitief moeten missen. Namens alle medewerkers en vrijwilligers van het FabLab Den Haag bedanken wij hem voor zijn harde werken, doorzettingsvermogen en aanstekelijk optimisme, die onmisbare ingrediënten zijn gebleken om meerdere keren een FabLab op te bouwen.

Gertjan zal een bijzondere plek in ons hart blijven houden.

Many people have noticed that our previous VOIP line had some problems: bad audio quality, sudden interruptions and hang-ups during conversations. We tried all kinds of settings and fixes, but the problems seemed to get even worse. To fix this annoying problem we decided to switch back to a good old analog phone line, so please update your records!

From March 1st we can be reached at 070-3833188, our old phone number will be discontinued in a couple of months.

Last week we went shopping for some chemicals that were needed for our flame polisher. None of our local suppliers had MEK (Methyl Ethyl Ketone) in stock, so we settled on using acetone instead. Acetone is also part of the chemical ketone solvent famliy and produces similar results.

We had to fill the machine with a distilled water and hydroxide solution, which is used in an electrolytic process to produce combustible oxygen and hydrogen gas. This gas is fed through a second tank where the acetone will evaporate and add to the mixture. This gas mixture will flow through the small nozzle of the hand gun when the knob is turned and can simply be lit with a lighter. The machine is very easy to use and it requires about 30 seconds before it’s ready for use.

The flame polisher can be used to smooth the edges of CNC machined acrylic sheet with a small and very hot flame.  This process is very quick and clean when compared to manually sanding and polishing the edges. Another advantage is that you can easily polish pockets and those hard-to-reach spots of very detailed objects.

Below is an example of the result that can be achieved with this small machine. We used some scrap CNC machined acrylic sheet to test and practice flame polishing. The left part hasn’t been treated yet and the right part got a quick polishing treatment, you can clearly see the difference! Check out more pictures and a movie of the machine in action at our Flickr PhotoStream: Flame polisher set.

Last summer, the CabFabLab was visited by radio journalist Rob Buiter for the “Hoe? Zo!” Teleac radio show. You can find a short introduction and MP3 recording of the interview on the Teleac Hoe? Zo! website.

Due to the holiday season the CabFabLab will be closed for public until the 4th of January 2010. As many of you know the lab is still run by a small group of volunteers. We desperately need some time to focus on the future of the CabFabLab, so we can finish our business plan & funding request for upcoming years. Additionally some of our hi-tech work spots and machines need to be cleaned, oiled and serviced so they can serve all our visitors well in 2010.

We’d like to thank all people who visited the CabFabLab in 2009, we’ve seen so many nice and innovative projects, we met a lot of interesting people and we had a great year at our new location! We can’t wait to see what next year will be like at the CabFabLab!

Have a nice Christmas and a fabtastic new year!