Abstract

In the last decade, the technological developments of open-source machine tools (OSMTs) have reached a very high standard, sometimes up to being compatible with proprietary products from industry. However, the aspect of usability is often neglected over the development of functionality, which leaves the user friendliness of many OSMTs still lagging behind those of industrial machines. In an explorative qualitative research approach, this chapter deals with the elaboration of the basic problems and challenges which users face when they use and familiarize themselves with OSMTs. Interviews with OSMT developers, users, and educators provided insights into the status quo of OSMT development and education. Key factors with an influence on the usability of OSMTs were identified. In this chapter, the identified key factors, process understanding, machine complexity and atmosphere/prevailing mood, are described, and their influence on the usability of OSMTs and the fab city community is presented.