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Missed the campaign? head over to fabtotum.com and reserve your unit!
FABtotum is a multipurpose tool, World's first Low Cost Desktop Personal Fabrication devicethat can operate a wide range of Computer controlled (CNC) manufacturing and 3d-scanning processes.
Print, Cut, Mill, Scan, Manipulate. Rinse and repeat!
A seamless interaction between the physical and the digital world.
While Current 3D printers are defined as Personal fabricators, there is so much more to personal fabrication than 3d printing alone!
FABtotum allows anyone to explore the endless possibilities of a multipurpose fabrication device.
Exploring design and shape possibilities has never been cheaper and faster.
The high speed PLA/ABS printing is the best way to go for a quick design prototype, and with a Z precision up to 0,47 microns, a polished sample prototype is possible too. Motion bearings and a new belt driving mechanism allows a smooth and fast print.
Thanks to the built-in heated bed prints will proceed smoothly and objects will have higher quality! No need for sticking duck tape or use sticky solutions.
The glass build platform is easy to clean and won't be full of scratches after a week like common polymer-based surfaces seen in other 3d printers.
Fabtotum features a dual head, with an engraving/milling spindle motor that can be used to accomplish a wide range of machine operations on many common materials including wood, light aluminium or brass alloys.
Switching to subtractive mode is easy: just remove and tilt the double sided printing plane and expose the milling plane with built in fixtures to secure your workpiece.
Along with 3/4 Axis Subtractive Machining, Fabtotum is capable of 3-axis hybrid Additive / Subtractive manufacturing, meaning you can work in dual mode without loosing the position or having to move the workpiece.
- 3D milling on light materials (Balsa, Foam, light wood)
- PCB milling : make your own circuit boards!
- Engraving
- 2.5 D Profiling (cutting) on light materials (balsa,Foam,Light wood)
- CNC Pre-Drilling
- 4 Axis machining on light materials.
- 4 Axis Engraving
Using this feature you'll be able to unlock a whole lot of potential: scan and print duplicates of solid objects, create new objects with foams or modeling clay and scan them for further editing in a modeling software of choice, or print them in additive mode or cut/mill in subtractive mode.
FABtotum can do both and much more.
Scanning objects means you'll never run out of stuff to print, you'll be able to experiment with shapes or reverse-engineer objects around you, scanning and then duplicating a modified version!
You'll be able to freely print your scanned objects in any other 3D printer or FABtotum Personal Fabricator, without restrictions or DRM check of any kind.
Fabtotum will feature a customized web management , SSH and VNC server on the local network, so anyone with your authorization code can access all the functions of the machine: 3d Printing, 3d scanning, Milling, Diagnostics, or maybe watch a stream of the onboard camera during a print.
Touch interface, mouse , keyboard, you choose!
Laser-cut parts, mill a double sided PCB or even do some 4-axis plasma cutting…and more! it’s up to you to experiment!
Use all those techniques together and you’ll get the best out of FABtotum.
FABtotum will be available in various colors, to fit perfectly in your studio,home, lab or office. FABtotum is a small 36,6 cm cube, meaning it won't occupy all your desk.
All the printing material is stored inside the machine,leaving your desk free of filament coils.
The Fabtotum device is meant to push the boundaries of personal fabrication. To do this we want to involve people in the design process as much as possible, and allow them to modify and improve the machine to fit their own needs without needless restrictions. We will allow the design and commercialization of third party "heads" to expand the machine capabilities.
FABtotum technologies have been secured by a pending patent from the threat of lawsuit for patent infringement. The full documentations,drawings and the reproduction of FABtotum is allowed and encouraged under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Sharealike 3.0 Unported Licence.
- Assembled, Kit or DIY? You decide.
- Full Schematics and instructions available online.
- Easily customizable, Easy to assemble.
- Powered by a RAspberry Pi Mod B + Arduino ™ Derivate/Compatible Open Source Physical Computing Platform.
- Uses industry standards and Open Source software.
- Third party heads or parts can be built and sold freely to fit on FABtotum.
We also hope to build a public repository for additive, subtractive and scanned objects/projects.
“To teach that a comparatively few men are responsible for the greatest forward steps of mankind is the worst sort of nonsense.”
― Henry Ford
Finding the right conditions where you can have both decent subtractive and additive manufacturing in one small envelope is no easy task. we think we reached a good compromise between speed precision and strength thanks to unconventional movement transmission methods and structural solutions.
Fabtotum has been developed to be built from the ground up from industrial-grade components, cheaper to get in quantity and more reliable than ever.
Because of that, FABtotum is made to sustain way more punishment than you can possibly cause without hurting yourself.
These are the prototype specifications, a fair preview on what the final consumer version will be.
- Size: 366x366x366mm
- Printing volume (additive) : 210x240x240mm (24% of size in additive mode)
- Milling Volume (Subtractive) : 210x240x[your milling bit height] mm
- Scan volume (optical/digitalizer) : as much as accessible (up to printing volume depending on the object shape)
- Scan Angular resolution: from 83 to 133 steps/degree in 1/16th microstepping mode.
- CMOS sensor: 1600x1200 or above. [stretch goal #4 reached]
- 4th axis Milling angular resolution: as "Scan Angular resolution"
- Z layer height: from 0.10 to 0.4 mm.
- Z level minimum increments: encoder resolution 0,00047mm (0,47 microns) in 1/16th microstepping. (3mm pitch leadscrew / 200 steps *16 * 2 gearbox = 0,000467 = approx 0.47 microns. ,less than half a micron)
- Additive materials: PLA,ABS : built in protected material storage/coil.
- Subtractive materials: with onboard motor: Foam,Balsa,Plywood,thin Aluminium, brass alloys (PCB layer).
- Additive head: 0.35 or 0.45 or 0.5mm nozzle , Bowden extruder.
- Additive sub-systems: heated bed,fan cooling [Stretch goal #2 reached!]
- Subtractive tool: Onboard 30 Watt spindle. standard milling bits (3.25mm diam.)
- Additional tool: space for tools up to 60mm mounting diameter.
- Acquisition method: Laser Scanner (line laser) and Z digitizer probe.
- Other systems: Mechanical homing endstops, Vacuum cleaner port.
- I/O : USB host, SD slot, Wireless b/g/n, Ethernet [Stretch goal #3 reached!]
- Colors: White, Black,Red + 3 [Stretch goal 1# reached!]
Please note that our development process hasn't stopped yet, will be heavily influenced by the outcome of this campaign and as a result some of these specifications may change slightly. Our commitment is to provide the best compromise between speed,precision and functionality.
In April 2013 FABtotum won the S2P competition held by the Politecnico Foundation, and the company is currently undergoing evaluation to become a university Spin-off, allowing access to academic expertise, R&D facilities and more.
We'll be attending the first European Maker Faire in Rome, October 3-6, 2013.
