Documentation Fabfuse2012
Dirk van Vreeswijk - Connecting fablab prototyping and industrial production
Behind
every digital fablab machine there is a professional industry. In this
session we will discuss ways to link the fablab to theses industries in
such a way that both worlds will benefit. For the purpose of the
excercise I will introduce you to the world of digital sublimation
transfer printing. A dyesub unit will be available at FabFuse and
professionals from this industry will be present to connect us in real
space / time. The session will result in questions and answers for 'both
world'. Your active participation is welcome.
Dirk was born in a paper family. He works now as a new business developer in the paper factory of his family and back in 2001 he worked as a productmanager for the same company and learned about the scale and the long tail in digitized networked markets.
End 2005 A friend (Hanne van Essen) read an article about Fablabs in NRC Handelsblad called "Livingroom factories in Ghana". She googled on fablab and met Frank Oxener on Texel who claimed a little earlier the domain and they started a blog called fablab.nl.
(interesting
to learn that fablab.nl started as a domain squat by Frank Oxener.
Interesting to know also, that this eventually paid off: the stichting
paid him an undisclosed amount of money for the name in May 2012...)
She got together with someone in Texel to write a blog. Dirk, Frank and Hanne teamed up with Klaas Hernamdt (de Waag) to set up the first FabLab in the Netherlands in cooperation with Waag Society and Mediamatic and Stichting FabLab.nl. The rest is history.
They promoted the idea of Fablabs.
His interest: Connecting minds via dyesub and other paper killer apps. Seeing how Coldenhove Paper Factory can connect to Open Manufacturing and FabLabs.
He's always looking for things with paper and what you can do with that digitally
Behind every digital fablab machine there is a professional industry (service providers)
Lasercutters: cutting & engraving
Milling: tool makers
Vinylcutter: signmakers (making money on sticker material)
design & engineering services (happens in the Fablabs and outside)
Why link this?
Why link fablabs to the industry?
We have enough fun, so what else do we need?
exercise:
See template below
(Dirk skips the exercise)
Intrduction to dye-sublimation printing.
What is a dye sub?
Dirk
passes around horrible-looking things that are done with a dye sub
machine. Principle is that an ink is released into a polyester material
or coating, and then heated to get the right colours that are fixed
inside the polyester. From solid into gas, without becoming a fluid in
between. Like freeze-drying. You need disperse dyes, ..., pressure and temperature . Needs to be minimally 60% polyester.
You print onto a special piece of paper, that can release the inkt again under high temperature. Image is not on top of the material, but inside it.
What can you do with it? Decorate. Personalise.
You can also do 3D, but requeres specific press
Starters pack for 399,-
Why isn't this part of Fab standard inventory?
Neil: needs to much special logistics
Harmen: Not a tool for invention but rather to decorate stuff
But what if you need to print a scale on something, game boards for example.
Shows a picture of the paper factory in eerbeek, where they have very large paper roll holders...
Exercise
Properties of Fablab?
prototyping
free acces to digital fabrication
open (design)
barter, not money
speculate with and on having ideas
Tight budgets
Desktop scale
...
Properties of Industry?
mass production / production scale
old school: closed source, closed access
speculate with and on making money
ROI / business models
...
What can Fablabs do for industry?
community, but we don't want to be just another market!
show/try new posibilities / experiment (do things with the machines that industry doesn't try) for this you need the machine close, to speed up experiment cycles.
...
What can industry do for Fablabs?
Machines/materials sponsorships (Fablab as a showroom)
Dirk spoke in preparation for his talk at fabfuse with a Dutch supplier of material and machines to Dutch FabLabs: The supplier found Protospace a good environment for a showroom model but didn't think Fablab Amersfoort a suitable environment because he felt Fablab Amersfoort is a place where people make things that already exists.
Dirk understands better what open design, open source and and open manufacturing entails by following the Open Laserproject LAOS and talking with Jaap Vermaas and Bart Bakker. As and example of Open Manufacturing Bart advocates the Chinese to copy the finished LAOS board asap so the rest of the world can enjoy the wonderful features and improve on it which will be beneficial for all of us. See http://www.laoslaser.org/
Q: Are these professional machines suitable for fablabs? Are they hackable / adaptable?
A: Fablabs are places that give access to machines people normally can't afford.
Of course it should be easy enough to prototype with them.
Q: How do you link your fablab to the world behind the machines?
- Build machines and/or work with what is
- Educate versus attack / defend or withdraw (listen to other peoples perspectives)
- Fablab as a showroom for ...
- Who owns what stays a big issue - long tail
- Identify the industry and use them as service providers