Fab lab

Fab labs are primarily intended for the piece-wise, for personal use, manufacturing of products that can be manufactured using existing technologies, but which are not mass-produced . Attempts are also made to attempt copying or one-time manufacturing of parts for experimental or scientific tasks.

The fab labs are not product oriented. But they can, in principle, produce small batches of products, which may be preferable to ordering a similar batch at the factory (due to the negative economies of scale associated with mass production). The Fablabs have already shown their ability to facilitate the creation of single high-tech devices for specific needs. In addition, fab lab is sometimes used as a launching pad for future innovative commercial projects.

As a rule, a fab lab is created on the basis of a large organization ^[4] , for example, a university, and is considered as one of the laboratories that any student or employee has access to, as well as, under certain conditions, those who wish "from the outside." Among the sources of funding for fablabs:

• the parent organization itself: for a university, having a fab lab with it is beneficial, as it helps to increase the prestige of the educational institution and attract applicants;
• private individuals paying for access to fab lab equipment;
• students ordering a layout for a course project, etc .;
• various authorities whose small orders cannot be placed at factories or in large prototyping centers.

Typically, fab lab has the following equipment:

• Laser cutters , plasma cutters , water jet cutters , knife cutters for cutting sheet materials.
• 3-axis CNC machines : 3 or more axes, computer-controlled subtractive milling and turning machines.
• Rapid prototyping tools: usually a “ 3D printer ” made of plastic or plastic parts.
• Equipment for milling of printed circuit boards : 2 dimensional, high-precision milling machines.
• Workplaces for the development, assembly and testing of microprocessor and digital electronics .

Fablabs, in fact, are the successors, at the present level, of the DIY subculture ( Eng. Do it yourself! ), In the Russian-speaking environment known as “Do it yourself!”. This subculture was and remains popular in the world, actively promoted in the USSR.

The fab lab program itself was initiated at the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MTI) in the mid-2000s as a collaboration between the Grassroots Invention Group and the Center for Bits and Atoms (CBA) at MIT, with the help of which it was widely studied how knowledge relates to the ability to physically realize something and to what extent the community of ordinary people can be strengthened with the help of technology. Currently, Grassroots Invention Group is no longer part of Media Lab, the Center for Bits and Atoms consortium is still actively pursuing research in areas related to description and manufacture, but now it does not contain a laboratory and does not support them (not counting the mobile fab lab )

Also, the concept of fab lab grew out of a popular course at MIT (MAS.863) called "How to do [almost] everything."

At the end of 2017, there were 1,205 officially registered fab lab laboratories in the world on all continents except Antarctica; most of them are in the USA (about 170), France and Italy (about 140 in each of these countries) ^[5] . Of the Russian fablabs, which are also adjacent to the centers of youth innovative creativity (CMIT), the international catalog contains about 30 organizations ^[5] , but in fact there are more than 150 ^[6] . The highest rating at the turn of 2017/18 was held by the Fab lab - Polytech laboratory created on the basis of St. Petersburg Polytechnic University ^[6] . The main contingent of participants are young people, mostly students.

One of the large projects undertaken by fab labs includes the construction of free FabFi wireless networks ^[7] (in Afghanistan, Kenya and the USA). The first FabFi city-wide network established in Afghanistan has been located there and has been operating for several years with the support of the community and without any special service. The network in Kenya, built on the basis of this experience, began experimenting with managing the quality of services and providing additional services for a fee to make the network self-sustaining.

• 3D printing
• RepRap Project - The RepRap project aims to manufacture using a 3D printer with free open source software.

• Fab Lab tools - A list of typical Fab Lab equipment on the MIT website.
• Fab Academy - Information about the Fab Academy international educational program.
• The Fab Foundation is a fablab foundation that collaborates with partners and implements the Fab Academy educational program.
• Fab Lab List - The official list of Fab Lab workshops worldwide.
• Fablabs of Russia - a list of Fablabs and centers of youth innovative creativity in Russia.
• Fab Lab Tutorials - Fab Lab equipment manual on Fab Lab Amsterdam.
• Fab Modules is open source software for working with typical Fab Lab equipment.
• Fab Lab International is an association of people interested in developing the Fab Lab network worldwide.
• Fab Lab - the Internet for atoms - an article about Fab Lab in Russian.