Yesterday (27-08-2009), we visited the Cabfablab fablab in The Hague with a small group.

A bit difficult to find it seemed, but we managed to get to the old Cabalero factory and then finally the ‘office’ of the Cabfablab. Two spaces, numbers 73 and 74. One for ‘noisy’ equipment and one for more ‘quiet’ work.

Overall it’s a nice clean place, quite light. They’ve got about the usual on machinery:

• Laser cutter for cutting wood & plastics or ‘writing’ on metal’
• Vinyl cutting plotter
• Heat transfer vinyl and the like on fabrics (e.a. for t-shirts)
• Small 3D miller
• 3D-Printer
• A medium sized CNC machine
• A wiki
• A diversity of small tools

They’re with a small group of volunteers, and their aim is mainly to facilitate students, self-employed and artists. Unlike other fablabs the Cabfbalab does not ave free days.

Usage of their equipment comes down to 25 euros per hour + materials. For the 3D-printer you just have to pay for the raw material. There are some exceptions, but see their website for that.

They do try to keep the open spirit quite alive, besides having most tings running on closed source software, it’s kind of a problem with having software that controls the machines.

I think it’s a nice workspace, good atmosphere just  too bad they don’t have free days. Certainly worth a visit.

Link: http://www.cabfablab.nl/

Pictures:

Regarding the last post, Edmund made his blog entry: http://maxwelldemon.wordpress.com/2009/04/25/building-mathematics-sculpture-system-5/

It bit more wordy then my post, and a bit more pictures. So more information :).

So I’m currently staying in Iceland for a bit, and in the past days we build a big deltahedron from wood and metal rods. Last night we constructed it with a bunch of people in a vulcano on Vestmannaeyjar. Is was quite a lot of fun to build it, paint it and assemble it.

This all happened in the context of the fablab on Vestmannaeyjar. The idea and concept was done by Smari and Edmund, the design was made by local kids at the fablab. The final choice for the design was done in the vulcano by all the participants.