New B.C. fabrication lab brings high tech tools to the public

Entrepreneurs, engineers and people who like to tinker in the West Kootenay can now get access to some of the latest digital fabrication technology.

The Kootenay Association for Science and Technology opened the MIDAS Fab Lab earlier this month. The lab and others like them around the world, provide public access to high-tech manufacturing equipment.

"It's a 6,000 sq. ft. lab and it hosts about $400,000 in cutting edge equipment that the public is able to use via membership," said MIDAS program director, Amber Hayes, to CBC reporter, Bob Keating.

Among the equipment available to use at the lab are 3-D scanners, 3-D printers and computer-controlled machining tools.

"We can do things like using a 3-D scanner to scan an item and then we can print it on a 3-D printer and folks can use that as a prototype," said Hayes.

"Or they can come to us with pictures and designs and input those and actually print them out in a hard copy version of what that design was, so everything from drones, planes, pieces for equipment, to you name it, you can pretty much design it and print it here."

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The lab was recently used to create a prosthetic hand.

"The finger pieces are actually made using the 3-D printer," said Hayes. "And we can do the robotics here in order to make those fingers move … as well as teaching people how to do basic programing to make that work."

Besides providing access to equipment, the MIDAS Fab Lab also provides technical training and business coaching through the Kootenay Association for Science & Technology or KAST's Venture Acceleration Program.

Memberships for the West Kootenay lab are available to the general public and range from $25 for a one-day drop-in to $480 for a full year.

Hayes says the region is already home to lots of people who "are working in their basements or they're soldering in their kitchens."

"They need access to better equipment and some of the businesses out there may have concepts that they want to prototype but don't have access to close to half-a-million-dollars worth of equipment. We'll provide that for them."

KAST built the $2 million MIDAS Fab Lab with funding from the provincial and federal governments, the Columbia Basin Trust and Community Futures. 

With files from Bob Keating.

To listen to Bob Keating's Daybreak South story click on the link: New B.C. Fab Lab brings high tech tools to the public