A success story with faithful models, laser engraving and a 3-axis CNC

We've reached FabLab to meet the team that changed Dan Pruteanu's perception of Wood IQ about the people of Bucharest. And what's more, it changed it for the better. According to fair, I thought that we, the team at WoodIndustry.News, but apparently he still wasn't convinced. 🙂 The decisive blow came from the FabLab with their naturalness, openness and involvement when they 2030 Pro ATC - a 3-axis CNC - arrived at their company. They were so convincing that Dan told us we had to write about them. I couldn't turn down the opportunity, especially given the field in which the CNC is used.

In fact, I wanted to see what can be done with a 3-axis CNC in a field other than furniture production, at an architectural model and advertising production company.CNC technology is used in various fields to process wood and other materials into the desired shape and can be used to create furniture, sculptures, models, interior or exterior decoration. I wanted to see what needs in their field CNC solves and how CNC machining can be used on materials other than wood or its derivatives.

So I set up the meeting with Alexandru Cristal, who founded and runs FabLab, and here I am at their headquarters on Theodor Pallady Boulevard, next to (for now) the IKEA construction site. On the way to the office where we chatted, Alexandru showed me a bit of what they do - 3D printing, laser cutting and engraving, CNC machining, production of design and advertising objects, cutting and machining materials for third parties. On a shelf were some of the objects made over the years, all worked with great attention to detail.

In the beginning there were architectural models

The architectural model is a miniature construction that faithfully reproduces future buildings or development projects. This allows interested parties to see the future building project in detail. The passion for such models, awakened during his university years, led Alexander to open a professional architectural model-making workshop with a colleague in 2006. It quickly became a very profitable business being highly sought after and appreciated. "We were gods," he tells me.

They received orders for at least one model a week from major property developers, models that could fetch up to €10,000. Models for houses or small projects they couldn't make because of lack of time. For 3 years, until 2009, things went very well, they were on a roll, they leased a super high-performance colour 3D printer, the first of its kind in Romania, but then the crisis hit. The real estate boom collapsed, orders almost disappeared, and for the new printer they had a bank payment of 2500 euro/month. Because they could no longer pay the salaries, out of eight employees, they were left with only the associate, and they were both working just to pay the bank rate.

It was a very hard time that he now says came at exactly the right time to get him back on his feet. In fact, he thinks everything in his life happened when it was supposed to. He was born when he was supposed to be so he could do and finish college at the height of the real estate boom. He had to make models from his first year of college, eventually turning it into a passion and a business later on. And just when he had to, the crisis came along to "teach" him some much-needed lessons.

The big regret is that he didn't work somewhere before where he could learn more. The fact that he started out in college by setting up his own company meant that he learned all the ins and outs himself. Now he thinks that experience from another job, in a multinational perhaps, would have helped him know more about running a business.

It was hard to come back, but he did. Because the demand for models had almost disappeared, he had to find new business directions. They turned first to students, for whom they made models or provided space for them to make their projects. Another area was advertising, for which they could do many things with the facilities they had. And with the same facilities they also did services for third parties.

Three main business lines: mock-ups, advertising production and third-party services

They now have several business directions they are going in. On the model side they work with real estate developers and architectural offices. Actually the clients are real estate agents. They need the most accurate models for showrooms or for project presentations at trade fairs. To make a mock-up, developers provide the complete project - site plan, facades, sections - and they redesign everything according to the materials from which the mock-up will be made. This will reproduce most of the details of the project, depending on the time they have available and the budget allocated.

On advertising production they also collaborate with the end client and with advertising agencies for whom they make one-off or series products. Another part of the business is services for third parties, for which they do laser engraving or CNC cutting.

Another project they are now developing is FabTech.ro, an online shop for materials. It all started from the shortage that they have experienced in the past. No matter how small the project was, you had to buy a whole sheet of plywood, chipboard, MDF, plexiglass or PVC, which are typically 2/3 m in size. Through this shop they want to deliver to customers exactly the dimensions they want. This project is based on the new CNC from Wood IQ.

A team where everyone works together without hierarchies

The current team consists of eight people, three of whom are architects. He is now the sole associate, but works side by side with the team. "At FabLab we all have dirty hands." He is annoyed that because of the "paperwork" he has to do he loses too much time and doesn't work as much as he would like. When they have big projects they hire seasonally and can get as many as 13-15 people.

Selection is based on certain criteria, because the field requires a lot of skill and a sense of space. He has found that the most suitable are those who enjoyed spatial geometry at school, and to discover those who are skilled and passionate he asks them when they last changed a socket. If they do this kind of work involving electricity they have a blank sheet of paper from the outset, because it's an area that few get into.

They work only 25% with wood and wood derivatives, preferring to work with plexiglass, PVC or compact polycarbonate because they are more stable and easier to paint. MDF requires a lot of processing to get a perfect surface, especially on the edge. That's why they prefer to make the joints at 45º. Of the 25%, solid wood is the least used.

Otherwise, I use chipboard, MDF and some birch and poplar plywood because it's softer and easily worked. They have a few customers who use it to make brooches, earrings and this time of year, Christmas decorations. She says there has been a trend for a few years with these decorations and in the past they have also participated in Christmas fairs, but now they don't have the resources for this direction.

Collaboration with Wood IQ

He says the purchase of a CNC is a two-year-old idea. They needed a 3-axis CNC to do 3D cutting and precision milling on large panels. Their small CNC, made by a specialist in Bucharest, could not be used for large jobs. For a while they turned to third parties, but the complex milling was not of the quality they wanted and so they concluded that they needed their own CNC.

Alexander went through several ideas before arriving at Wood IQ. The first option he thought of was to buy it in China at a much lower price than in the country, but after much research on this option and taking into account transport costs and customs costs, he came to the conclusion that these, plus the uncertainty and lack of assistance, did not justify the price difference. Then there was the idea of buying a kit from the US, which they would assemble themselves in the country. In the meantime, business had grown and they needed a solid machine that offered stability and safety in machining, which the CNC brought from the US as a kit could not provide.

The conclusion was that they needed to find a provider in the country that would also offer them support services. That's how she came to Wood IQ where he decided to buy 2030 Pro ATC CNC, a CNC with automatic chipping tool change that increases the productivity of the work by a lot. The purchase was made under a lease, approval came quickly because the company was old, and the experience during the crisis, when the printer was paid in full despite the hardships, counted for a lot.

FabLab, an American concept successfully brought to Bucharest

Because I had discovered when I looked them up that there was another FabLab in Iasi, I wanted to know if there was a connection. That's how I found out that in fact FabLab is an American concept published in 2001. A teacher provided the students with the workshop where the equipment was located so they could work on whatever they wanted there, and at the end they received notes. The concept has developed into such spaces, either supported by various entities (universities, trade schools, non-governmental organisations) and with free access, or in the form of a business where customers pay rent for the period of use.

They learned about the concept in 2011, when they were working with students and the activity resembled a FabLab. They asked for permission to use the name and got it because it fit within the confines of the concept. Since then they have become much better known as FabLab than as Spot Design, the legal name of the company. The fact that they participated under that name in the realisation of a European-funded project to develop an online platform for building toys and prototypes helped even more.

Dioramas, models and a space full of dynamism and creativity

I ended the conversation with Alexander and returned to the workshop, which I now saw with new eyes. I felt like I was in a miniature world. I saw a model of a stretch of the Danube, a model requested by the Ministry of the Environment and a diorama of a train in full construction. The model of the building at 139 Calea Victoriei, developed by Hagag, was in full swing. And all this while the small CNC was being engraved in plexiglass and the large CNC was being prepared to process large plates.

I left feeling good about this team, its normality, these hard-working young people with ideas. It's nice to see that there are people who can change the image of this Bucharest that sometimes gives the impression that it is not exactly welcoming to outsiders.

Good luck Alexander! Good luck FabLab!