A Weekend of hard work..

Hi there!
it’s been just a couple of days since the last update,but Fabtotum it’s shaping fast!
We are working right now finishing the last parts and testing some semi-automated production solutions like automated aluminium pipe cutting for the motor mount we did a week ago.Let me take a brief moment to introduce you to our small lab (It’s actually Marco’s basement even if he thinks it’s a hi-tech rapid prototipying underground R&D facility).
The CNC machine you can see there it’s a custom made 3-axis CNC.It’s running with Mach3 software (occasionally emc2 too) to cut on a 10 mm thick Aluminium alloy plate.
It performs very well if you don’t rush too much,which is always a bad idea.
Marco is checking the machine while it does it’s job, with his hand on the emergency stop button, just in case…
On the background Giovanni is using the drill press to create the sockets for the countersunk screws on some of the pieces already made.
Since we don’t have a professional CNC setup (lack of tool change,just 3 axis) some stuff has to be made by hand.The lab it’s not that big (overall we have 35 sqm) and it gets easily messy,but it’s enought for our needs right now.
We have almost every tool we can ask for,but no seats or relax zone, yet 🙁

We are working very hard to meet our self-imposed deadlines,hopefully we will be able to share more of the project itself the next weeks.
During the week we primarily lives our lives and plan the next batch of parts,the next steps in the assembly process,preparing CAM NC and so on. In every spare time we have we rush in the lab and kill ourself with work.We end up exhausted but satisfied,and more excited for what we have to do next. It’s literally addicting…

Twitters!
Make sure to follow us on http://twitter.com/Fabtotum  we will start updating that too with small but tasty insights,plus you’ll be able to post us your feedback.

Cheers!

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Fabtotum prototype pre-production

While some components are already finished and stored in a carboard box ready for the final assembly, we are also improving and testing other type of materials and production methods.
Here you can see a nema 17 motor mount being milled in the Gcode simulation software cutviewer mill to preview the toolpath and improve the finished component.The material is an high resistant alluminium alloy.
Being able to virtually produce components is a key step in the design workflow,and we are trying to exploit the most from this method,storming new designs and new machining choices to reduce time consumption and improve reliability of the components.

Stay tuned.


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Enter the Fabtotum

Hello World.

Fabtotum.cc  is the home of the Fabtotum project, a 3D rapid prototyping  machine. Yup, a 3D printer.
Fabtotum is being developed by a bunch of young folks here in Milan, Italy, sharing the vision of other projects such as the Arduino board (the Arduino team is based in Turin, not far from Milan,) and the RepRap project,from Bath university’s Professor Adrian Bowyer and his team.

Fabtotum stands as “factotum”, a latin word composed of facere (to do) and totum (everything). In the common language a Factotum is someone you would ask for help in any field,usually basic tasks,including humile jobs.Fabtotum however is not a renaissance servant,It’s a low-cost,hi-tech,computer-controlled, 3-Axis machine capable of delivering a set of tools for hobbyst makers, architects,  designers or developers.
This project will be open-hardware under the Creative Commons license (we are still figuring what to adopt for our purposes),and we will embrace a distributed development model.
This is extremely important as we want to make sure that we will be able to keep improving the machine itself while a common framework is used.
Being an Open Source hardware, Fabtotum can be replicated in more than one way, can be built by you or can be purchased too.

But let’s not rush this brief intro,more informations will be posted soon on this blog.
A lot of work is being done right now,right here, and once a finished we will be able to show more than just excitement for this project.

Marco

Head Designer, Fabtotum project.

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