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From Fab @ Home
Fab@Home is a project dedicated to making and using fabbers - machines that can make almost anything, right on your desktop. This website provides everything you need to know in order to build or buy your own simple fabber, and to use it to print three dimensional objects. The hardware designs and software on this website are free and open-source. Once you have your own fabber, you can also download and print various items, try out new materials, or upload and share your own projects. Advanced users can modify and improve the fabber itself.
Fabbers (a.k.a. 3D printers or rapid prototyping machines) are a relatively new form of manufacturing that builds 3D objects by carefully depositing materials drop by drop, layer by layer. With the right set of materials and a geometric blueprint, you can fabricate complex objects that would normally take special resources, tools and skills if produced using conventional manufacturing techniques. A fabber can allow you to explore new designs, email physical objects to other fabber owners, and most importantly - set your ideas free. Just as MP3s, iPods and the Internet have freed musical talent, we hope that blueprints and fabbers will democratize innovation.
Most commercial 3D Printers today are limited to one material at a time, and their proprietary technologies limit experimentation. Moreover, their price range - tens of thousands, to hundreds of thousands of dollars - is typically well beyond what an average home user can afford. Our goal with this open-source, multi-material printing is to explore the potential of universal fabrication: Machines that can use multiple materials to fabricate complete, active systems. Keep reading...
- To read more overview - Visit Project Overview
- To get Fab@home, and start building - Visit Getting Started
- Questions? - Please visit the Frequently Asked Questions page
Fab@Home News
21:04, 14 June 2009 (UTC): Fab@Home has received a brief mention in a text book intended for secondary school, titled Engineering & Technology (ISBN-10: 141807389X ISBN-13: 9781418073893), published by Delmar / Cengage Learning. Fab@Home is presented as an example of the new technology of "microfactories". Photos and a description are included in Chapter 4: Materials and Materials Processing, p. 165.
20:20, 14 June 2009 (UTC): Personal Fabrication Technology has been named one of the 2009 Innovations That Could Change the Way You Manufacture by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME). Dr. Evan Malone of the Fab@Home Project, and Terry Wohlers of Wohlers Associates were invited to speak on the topic.
15:38, 19 May 2009 (UTC): Fab@Home is being featured in The FAB Show, an exhibition of art and technology of additive manufacturing at the Klein Art Gallery of the University City Science Center, in Philadelphia, PA, USA. Newsweek has a brief mention of the exhibition as well.
12:00, 22 January 2009 (UTC): The Koba Industries Fabber store is now the NextFab Store and we are still having a Fabber Sale. All clear chassis kits are $2750.00US. For ordering and information please contact: Kenji Kondo
11:00, 21 November 2008 (UTC): Koba Industries Inc. is having a Fabber Sale. All clear chassis kits are $2750.00US. For ordering and information please contact: Kenji Kondo
07:00, 18 September 2008 (MDT): Version 0.23a of Fab@Home has been released. This version include an important fix that affects all users that use FindSafe button. Now the limits switch for motors U and V are enabled by default. Please test it, and comment about its performance and bugs. Thank you for your help with testing! Contribution from The Renato Archer Center of Information Technology - CTI (Campinas, Brazil).
17:06, 29 August 2008 (UTC): The design and engineering of the next generation of Fab@Home systems has begun! If you are interested in contributing in any way to this effort, please see the notice on the discussion forum...
20:09, 21 August 2008 (UTC): Koba Industries Inc. has created the first wooden fabber! In addition to being the most beautiful fabber we've made, it's also the most customizable - easily modified with standard woodworking tools.
Movies and Photos
Here you can find some video and photos of the Fab@Home Model 1. Use the text links to download the videos, and click the photos to reach a photo download page. For more photos and video - see the Gallery of Ideas.
 Koba Industries wood fabber |
 UV LED's curing 40-tooth chainring |
 40-tooth chainring built using Koba UVG-1 |
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 Kenji takes the UVG-1 sprocket for a test drive |
 The latest glamour shot of a Model 1, 2-syringe system. Click here for a high-resolution version(17MB TIFF). |
 A Fab@Home Model 1 on display in the Science Museum London, UK |
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 A printed flashlight! |
 A line drawing of the Fab@Home Model 1, 216kB JPEG |
 A perspective view of the Fab@Home Model 1, 725kB JPEG |
 A view of the rear of a Model 1, showing the electronics, 1.6MB JPEG |
 A screen-shot of the Fab@Home application, 299kB JPEG |
