We put together a photo set containing a selection of CabFabLab’s most interesting projects and events of 2009.

We hope that this selection will shed some light on the wide variety of projects that can be realized with the help of a FabLab. Take some time to get inspired and come visit us for your next project!

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.

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!

Welcome to the updated CabFabLab website!

With the growing international FabLab community, we have updated our website language to English. This change reflects our desire to participate in the global discourse of FabLabs. An essential part of the FabLab mission is to build an international resource of knowledge, and we hope to participate by sharing our experiences, activities, stories and suggestions throughout this blog. We hope you too will join us by posting comments, questions, links and off course coming to the CabFabLab and working on a project of your own!

The CabFabLab has been captivated with tons of exciting projects since our opening in May. If you have a look at the CabFabLab photo stream, you can see a selection of these projects. With this web update, we hope to start posting regularly about the projects and activities in the CabFabLab and Dutch FabLab community. We also have some exciting workshops planned for 2010, so keep your eyes peeled for what’s to come.

And lastly, I’m Mark — a new intern at the CabFabLab. I am from New York City and have decided to join the CabFabLab team to learn about the world of FabLabs, while also helping out in the lab with all the exciting and creative projects that our users dream up.

See you at the FabLab!

We willen graag iedereen bedanken die tijdens onze open dag is langsgeweest, we hopen jullie gauw weer terug te zien in het CabFabLab! Bekijk de foto’s van de open dag op Flickr:  Relaunch CabFabLab

Medio juli 2009 hopen we ook onze hout- en metaalwerkplaats te kunnen openen, zo kunnen onze bezoekers naast desktop prototyping ook gebruik maken van diverse (electrische) handgereedschappen voor de vervaardiging van grotere objecten zoals modellen en prototypes van meubels. We krijgen dan ook de beschikking over een grotere freesmachine met een netto werkgebied van 1000 x 600 x 100 mm, waar o.a. hout, plastics en metaal op bewerkt kan worden. Via deze weg willen we dan ook wethouder Kool van sociale zaken, werkgelegenheid en economie (gemeente Den Haag) hartelijk bedanken voor de bijdrage. Zonder zijn steun was deze upgrade van het CabFabLab niet mogelijk geweest.

Hier volgt nog een video waarin diverse productietechnieken voor prototypes worden belicht:

Tot slot willen we iedereen erop wijzen dat onze wiki sinds kort online is. Er moet nog veel toegevoegd worden, maar de basis is er. We vragen al onze bezoekers vanaf nu een korte beschrijving van hun project en werkwijze toe te voegen aan de wiki, zo ontstaat er een helder overzicht van wat er zoal gemaakt wordt in het CabFabLab. De FabLabs in Amsterdam en Utrecht noemen het FabMoments, kijk voor inspiratie op http://fablab.waag.org/fabmoments

De wiki van het CabFabLab is te vinden op http://www.cabfablab.nl/labwiki