Fab Lab: Student work

October 13, 2011

I had a great time volunteering at the Mobile Fab Lab on Tuesday. The equipment available to the public there is the sort of stuff that used to be reserved for manufacturers, but is now available for anyone to use. The purpose of the Mobile Fab Lab is to offer access to this equipment and inspire everyone to dream and create in a new way.

To that end, the two main projects that were happening in the Fab Lab on Tuesday were etched glasses using the laser cutter and t-shirts using stencils cut on the vinyl cutter.

Here is the laser in action:

The glass is sitting in a rotary attachment that allows the laser to work the entire way around. Designing the etched graphic is as easy as finding an image online and hitting the Go button.

Examples of the students’ work:

The t-shirt project was more involved. First the students found graphics online or designed images that they wanted to use as a stencil. Then they cut it on the vinyl cutter and applied it to their shirts. Next they used fabric paint to fill in the stencil and peeled off the vinyl.