Digital
The shed’s workshop at East Blackhall Street is built around joinery workshop with some digital fabrication tools.
Digital fabrication is a design and manufacturing workflow where digital data directly drives manufacturing equipment to form various part geometries. This data most often comes from CAD (computer-aided design), which is then transferred to CAM (computer-aided manufacturing) software. The output of CAM software is data that directs a specific machine, like a 3D printer or CNC milling machine.
A wide variety of digital fabrication tools exist, from hobbyist-level machines to larger scale industrial equipment used in professional manufacturing. The shed has both, our small scale machines include a 40W tabletop laser engraver and two 3d printers. One of the printers uses PLA (a type of polyester made from fermented plant starch from corn, cassava, maize, sugarcane or sugar beet pulp) and the other one uses a UV cured resin, useful for greater detail and accuracy matter more than durability or strength, items like jewellery prototypes and for lost wax casting methods.
We also have larger equipment like what you might see in industry, these include a large bed 150W laser cutter, with oxygen input for cutting steel and a full bed CNC Router for cutting plywood and other large sheets.
However, these tools are only as good as the input and for that we rely on digital fabrication tools or software which bridge the gap between design and manufacturing.
We use low cost / free software called Lightburn for our laser equipment and a makerspace license of VCarve for the CNC equipment, this helps make things accessible for our members. The internet is filled with useful tutorials for self-learning and many sample files to get people started on projects. As the barriers to professional-level technology lowers, it’s easier than ever for anyone to develop the skills to design a product to also fabricate it, empowering ordinary people to produce anything from prototypes to final products.
Our ethos of Meet, Make, Grow + Share is particularly relevant when working with digital fabrication where 90% of the effort is on screen before any material is cut, working with others to think about designs, chatting about tips on WhatsApp and testing ideas before committing to production. In this way, skills & experiences are passed to each other over a cuppa and at members own pace of learning.