On 3D Printing

Tag Archives: fab lab

Fab Lab of the Week: Maker Kids Lab in Toronto

August 12, 2012 Fab Labs

This week’s featured Fab Lab is Maker Kids Lab in Toronto. Maker Kids is a non-profit center that gives kids the space and tools to design and build their own creative projects. From 3D printing to robots, the lab has everything you would expect from a makerspace, just with smaller chairs.

In recent years, the Maker movement has grown exponentially through print publications, web sites, events and community spaces. Collective community workshops known as Hackerspaces or Makerspaces have grown worldwide from 124 in 2009 to over 500 in 2011. We are at the leading edge, providing one of the first kids’ Makerspaces, empowering all kids to be Makers.

We started in 2010 with a summer program and school events. In 2011 we obtained a permanent space and renovated it extensively. Our Makerspace has areas and tools for woodworking, electronics, mechanical creations, 3D printing, programming, art, sewing, and all kinds of other crafting and making. It is a centre for ideas, inspiration and implementation – a resource centre for our community.

Our program relies on a strong volunteer base and mentorship by kids themselves. Our adult collaborators are facilitators for the kids, and also encourage them to seek out resources to learn on their own, and to teach each other. Teenage collaborators help the younger kids as a part of their high school volunteer hours, as well as work on their own projects.

Interwoven with everything we do is our philosophy to honour kids’ own creativity and trust their abilities. Kids who are confident in their own abilities are capable of learning and doing anything!

Photo credit to Ponoko, who visited Maker Kids this past week and posted some photos from their trip.

Who Makes Better Sand Castles: Kids or 3D Printing?

August 11, 2012 News

Building sand castles is one of the cherished experiences for kids in the summer. Castles can be big or small, organized or chaotic. But it’s really about the process.

Well, a new 3D printing system called Stone Spray is looking to upstage these kids with perfectly created sand castles.

Stone Spray is a revolutionary construction method which uses soil as the base material and a liquid binder to solidify the soil granules. And uses a jet spray system to deposit the mix of soil and binder, for constructing architectural shapes.

Stone Spray is a project by architects Petr Novikov, Inder Shergill and Anna Kulik. The project is done in the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia and supervised by Marta Male-Alemany, Jordi Portell and Miquel Lloveras. With professional advisors: Santigo Martin from Vortica and Guillem Camprodon from Fab Lab Bcn.

Stone Spray is a research project. We want to push further the boundaries of digital manufacturing and explore the possibilities of an on-site fabrication machines.

The video below shows the team’s project in action.

Sand castle image by Paul Watson used under Creative Commons license.

Setting Up and Running a Fab Lab: Primer, History, and Recommendations

August 10, 2012 Fab Labs

Everything you wanted to know about setting up a Fab Lab is detailed in this document by Fabien Eychenne.

This broad overview covers these topics from a global perspective:

History of Fab Labs
Physical space configuration
Services and pricing
Fab Lab teams
Prototypes
Group projects
Art projects
Structure and organization
Investment budget
Machines and equipment

Fab Labs overview from La Fing

Fab Lab of the Week: Fab Lab Dublin Brings Ideas to Life in Ireland

July 29, 2012 Fab Labs

This week’s featured Fab Lab is Fab Lab Dublin in Ireland, your own personal factory in the city with all the equipment and expertise to make it easier, faster, cheaper and more fun to create things. 3D printing is one of the key technologies at Fab Lab Dublin.

From their website:

We are a collective of designers, entrepreneurs and makers who are setting up Fab Lab Dublin. A Fab Lab is a digital fabrication lab equipped with computer-controlled machines like 3d printers, laser cutters, 3d scanners and precision milling machines. The lab acts as a personal factory in the city where you can design and produce your own inventions, prototypes and designer products.

Design and manufacture is fundamentally changing. Designs (physibles) can be shared digitally and collaborated on at a global scale. Manufacturing is being reinvented by the ability to ship digital data more efficiently than products. Digital information is now at the forefront of manufacture and design. A fab lab is equipped with computer-controlled tools that take digital data to create physical products. The lab includes technology-enabled products generally perceived as limited to mass production – meaning individuals can now compete with large-scale manufacture.

We want to empower individual designers, entrepreneurs and makers with access to the tools of invention. Fab Lab Dublin is a space where you can share your passions, designs and ideas. It is a space where collaboration and invention take place. Life is about the people you meet and the things you create with them. So come join us and share your passion.