Why are our tools open source and modular ?
Some of you asked us : “What do you mean by modular tools ?” or “What’s the difference with an existing tool ?”. It means we have three main purposes behind our design process.
One tool for life.
We spent a lot of time designing our tools so they’re exclusively made out of :
- Standard pieces you would find in a typical hardware store around the world.
- And a minimum amount of specific pieces, manufactured using common Fablab techniques such as CNC milling or laser cutting.
This means that if your tool breaks, you can easily access the needed pieces just next to you and use our open source plans to know how to repair it by yourself. You get the power and we help you do it as easily as possible. How cool are unlimited reparable tools ?
Your tool needs to evolve with you.
As a starter, you tend to go for the least expensive tool to learn and practice. Then, as you start gaining knowledge, you usually need to buy a better quality one. Here, our screen printing press (and all future tools) have been designed to be able to evolve with you :
- Do you need to print in several colors ? We’re developing a carousel that plugs directly to your existing press ;
- Do you need a more robust press to start batch printing ? Just replace the MDF parts with aluminium ones and get a professional unbreakable press ;
- Do you need automation ? Well, we, or someone in our community might decide to develop a plugin for this feature one day.
- You get the idea !
From now on, we will gradually release improvements to each tool we create in order to meet your very needs. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any suggestion or need : that’s the purpose of our Lab.
Open source is a way to allow our users to adapt plans to their specific needs and share with the community.
We love developing tools, but we’re a small team and we’d love even more if you could help us develop our library and make great tools more accessible to everyone.
During the years to come, we will put lots of efforts on making collaborative modifications accessible within our library.
