Here is the fully assembled base; at first galance a little like a storage box with some bits cut out of the sides but closer insection shows some mechanical and electrical components already in place:

• In the upper picture the small black squares on the left hand side are limit switches for the x-y- and z-carriages.
• The lower picture shows, on the reverse of the box, the timing belt pulley that will ensure even motion along both of the y-shafts.

As the previous post indicates, I found some ambiguities in the instructions that I would like to have ironed out before setting secondary school pupils lose to follow these instructions. A key part of this ambiguity for me is that the assembly instuctions use one ‘part number’ system to refer to the various parts but the parts themselves (supplied in a myriad of small plastic bags) are labelled with different ‘part numbers’ from the manufacturer; the bill of materials spreadsheet provides the vital link between these two numbering systems. The result of this is that I spent (wasted) a great deal of time cross-referencing between these; each threaded insert, nut, bolt etc. etc. needed to be carefuly checked, not least because each of these comes in a number of different sizes. It will be, however, a simple matter to edit the assembly instructions to include the manufacturers part numbers and I would strongly recommend this before pupils start work.

These points apart, there is nothing here that should prove difficult for secondary pupils and there is quite a lot of incidental learning to be gained about how to create a well-engineered structure based on thin sheet material. In particular the use of a soldering iron to melt the threaded inserts into the acrylic was very straightforward and effective and the use of inserts for nuts and bolts to secure the structure (bottom image) is exemplary.

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This article from The Engineer about using inkjet technology for drug delivery via skin patches has prompted me to to note some of the other uses of inkjet printing for fabbing the weird and wonderful that I’ve accumulated:

• Bones and skin
• Parts for your heart
• Electronic circuits
• Microchips

Also from the The Engineer, an article noting the use of fabbing for the production of customised motor bike seats, with some interesting reflections on the future of fabbing (here called Rapid Manufacturing, RM) in mainstream manufacturing:

RM’s most fervent proponents believe that the technology could ultimately become a mainstream production route - with RM machines sited everywhere from your home-office to the local garage reshaping the world of manufacturing as we know it. If this vision becomes a reality it could even ultimately help to reverse the trend of production moving to low labour cost economies.

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It turns out the parts I thought were missing aren’t…. In the case of one part I simply can’t count .

The case of the other part is worth logging. Line 23 of the Bill of Materials shows a part “Linear ball bearings for X; Y axes”, item number 60595K73, that I thought should match Base assembly step 2 , item No 3 (see diagram). In fact I was looking at the wrong kind of bearing and then confused by finding that what you get in the kit is 4 white + green boxes manufactured by INA, item number 60595K13, whose contents look nothing like item 3 in the image.

In the end all the right bearings were present and the only error was in the single digit difference between the part numbers. I will press on and see what else emerges.

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I’ve suggested to the Fab@Home folks that there would be merit in placing the Model 1 CAD assemblies onto Ponoko as a free download; most people would still probably go to the Fab@Home site for them, but the advantage of Ponoko for some is its ability to link the downloader with a local manufacturer who could make the parts.

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So this is what a Fab@Home looks like when it arrives; both smaller and lighter than I expected (to give a sense of scale, I’ve included a 150mm measurer in the images).

Unpacking reveals three smaller packages: a set of laser cut acrylic parts, very carefully protected in layers of thick corrugated card (lower right of second image); a box full of a large number of mechanical, electronics and assembly parts (upper right of second image); a polystyrene box holding the stepper motors - pretty much the most expensive elements in the package (left of second image).

The acrylic parts are not only safely but very compactly packed; spread out across the floor it looks an impressive collection.

All the assembly instructions are on the Fab@Home website; I didn’t feel as though I could proceed working off the screen, so I’ve printed the full set - which you can see is substantial.

So I set to with enthusiasm, but came to a grinding halt very quickly when it seemed a part that is required quite early in the process was missing.

Moral: check the parts of the Bill of Materials before you start… Checking revealed that two critical parts (ball bearings for the Z, X and Y axes) were missing. So we are now chasing these up.

There is still a great deal can do to prepare all the parts while I wait, but I won’t be able to finish the assembly until the bearings turn up.

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One of the (many) striking stories in Gershenfeld’s book ‘Fab’ is of the development of Kelly Dobson’s Screambody; a device she developed, using fabbing techniques, to capture her screams for later release. I’ve just seen a brief summary of this project as well as an excellent video showing the Screambody in action and describing how it works. Interestingly, Kelly says that Screambody is the “first of (a) series of Wearable Body Organs”.

I can’t help feeling that it does rather look like a sick-bag in action… But a cool idea.

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Thanks to the Make blog for alerting me to Ponoko; a site for sharing and selling product designs as well as enabling their fabrication via laser cutting. It’s quite new, so their aim to deliver laser cut parts anywhere in the world is yet to be developed. But their aim is for designers to be able to sell their ideas worldwide and customers to be able to buy designs and have them made locally wherever they are.

A nice idea well executed; there’s an opportunity for pupils to sell their designs across the world - and it could be a great opportunity for schools with laser cutters to make some money as an accredited Ponoko manufacturer.

Incidentally, I can’t prasie Make magazine highly enough; every D&T department should have a subscription….

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Further proof of the plummetting cost of 3D printing comes from Desktop factory (”It’s a 3D world, print that way”) who are now taking orders for their Desktop Factory 125ci 3D Printer. This has a 5×5x5 inch build envelope using 0.01 inch layers of material at a cost of $1 per cubic inch. The site seems a bit coy about the material and printing technology details but does say:

The Desktop Factory 3D printer, which has a list price of $4,995, uses an inexpensive halogen light source and drum printing technology to build robust parts layer by layer from composite plastic powder.

The site goes on to point out that:

The Desktop Factory 3D printer is about the same size as early laser printers with the initial product measuring about 25 x 20 x 20 inches and weighing less than 90 lbs.

How long before we see an enterprising company offering these to schools in the UK?

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In January 1975 the US magazine Popular Electronics advertised the MITS Altair 8800 for $395 as a kit or $495 assembled. This was, arguably, the first micro (or personal) computer; it had a 2 MHz Intel 8080 processor, 256 bytes of RAM and a user interface of switches for binary input and flashing lights for binary output (no mouse, keyboard or monitor…). Within 3 months 4,000 people had ordered the machine. Until this point computers were hugely expensive and only owned by large corporations and universities. Then, as a direct result of this, Steve Wozniak and others founded the Homebrew Computer Club in Palo Alto and in 1976 Wozniak presented the Apple 1 to the Club. The rest, as they say, is history.

Markoff’s (2005) “What the Dormouse Said; How the 60s counterculture shaped the personal computer industry” provides an interesting account of this period, making the point that while we generally recognise ways in which computers have shaped cultures we can forget how important cultures have been in shaping the personal computer (and, equally, all other technologies).

I’m beginning to understand how exciting having one of these groundbreaking home computers delivered to your door must have been; I’m getting very itchy waiting for my Fab@Home kit to arrive and I suspect the parallels are close. Fab@Home and RepRap are the first steps in a revolution that will transform fabbing from being hugely expensive and only owned by large corporations and universities to something ordinary people will be able to have at home. In 10 years time a home fabber will probably be as different both visually and in use to a Fab@Home or RepRap machine as a modern laptop is to the Altair 8800. But Markoff’s point about the transformation and development of microcomputers over 30 years is that early adopters and developers have a huge influence on the evolutionary process. Which is why Fab@School wants to get these early ‘home’ fabbers into the hands of children…

Incidentally, you can still buy the Altair 8800 if you wish… but I doubt you’ll get it to drive a Fab@Home….

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A key influence on our interest in Fabbing within the school curriculum has been Neil Gershenfeld’s book ‘Fab‘. This describes two key ideas. The first is the development of some interesting pedagogical ideas through a course called ‘How to make (almost) anything‘ in which students are introduced to mircrocontroller technology and a range of fabrication tools and encouraged to make something (anything) they want. The second idea is a development of this in which the same equipment, a ‘Fab Lab‘ has been provided to a range of communities around the world.

As I noted in a blog comment in 2004, many UK schools already have this kind of microcontroller and fabrication technology, but how many are using these technologies in an innovative way either within their curriculum or with their local communities? If your answer to this question is ‘I am’, Please let us know! See the initial blog post (below) for details on how to contribute to this blog.

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