Fablabs and makerspaces equipped with new generative technologies e.g. 3D scanning, 3D printing, or laser cutting do not only change the way how innovative products come into being. Increasingly, they are are discovered as means for the production of scientific knowledge. Over the past years, fablabs have successfully found their way into universities and research institutes, while makerspaces have become a popular and social variation of it. Based on exploratory experiments and field research on fablabs in academic settings, the article discusses the role they can take in the context of scientific work, and the epistemological status of their output. Can fablabs turn into genuine ‘science fabs’? And what kind of ‘fab science’ emerges from them? The article suggests three specific roles for fablabs: 1) For strongly differentiated and sophisticated high-end science, they function as translators for otherwise difficult to communicate research items; 2) for newly developing ‘proto-sciences’ at the intersection of disciplines, they provide a facilitation platform, bringing together highly diverse research cultures, attitudes, and viewpoints; 3) they provide testbeds and living labs for the research of inter- and transdisciplinarity itself. Developing these streams, the paper gives an outlook onto potential assets that fablabs may contribute for future science, especially in regards to R&D collaboration.