Across the different TOG spaces, we have always had some form of shelf where unwanted items could find a new home.
Back in 2014, we wrote about our Two Shelves system. Items left around the space were placed on the shelves, where they could be collected by their owners, picked up for a new project or eventually cleared out.
The shelves have changed over the years as TOG has moved from one building to another. In our current space, the idea has a new name but the same great feeling behind it. It is now called the Rehome Shelf.
The idea is simple. If you see something on the shelf that you could use, take it away and give it a new home. You might find a book, a cable, an electronic component, a tool, a toy or the missing part for your next project.
Members can also leave useful and interesting items on the shelf for someone else. Something that is no longer useful to one person could be exactly what another person needs.
The shelf now has a new sign, and even the sign has been rehomed. It started life as another sign that someone was looking to dispose of. With a little paint, some design work and a trip through our laser cutter, it has been given a new life as the sign for the Rehome Shelf.
It is a small example of what the shelf is all about. We want useful items to stay in use for as long as possible instead of ending up in landfill. Sometimes an old item only needs the right person, a new idea or a little bit of work to become useful again.
The next time you are in TOG, have a look at the Rehome Shelf. You never know what you might find.
Take what you like, or leave something interesting.
Over the past few weeks, we have been putting some new equipment into use around TOG thanks to support from the Local Enhancement Programme 2026.
The programme supports community and voluntary organisations with capital equipment that helps strengthen local community activity. In Dublin, it is funded by theDepartment of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht, through the Dublin City Local Community Development Committee (LCDC) and Dublin City Council.
For us, the aim was fairly simple: make our public nights, workshops and community events safer, better organised and easier for our volunteers to run.
Already being put to use
Some of the most visible additions are our new outdoor event gazebos.
The day brought heritage blacksmith Fínín Líam Christie to TOG for a day of traditional forge work, hands-on participation and demonstrations exploring the skills associated with the United Irishmen, the 1798 Rebellion and Robert Emmet’s 1803 Rising. The gazebos gave us a much more useful covered outdoor area around the forge and remained in use for our Open Social Night afterwards.
That is exactly the sort of thing we hoped this funding would allow us to do. Rather than equipment for a single event, these are things we can bring out again and again for our monthly socials, workshops and other public activities.
Making the space safer and easier to use
We have also installed new Safety & Wellbeing equipment around the space, including new first aid and emergency burn kits.
Alongside this, we have added equipment to help with temporary power and trip hazards during events, better signage and equipment for managing our outdoor area.
They may not be the most exciting things in a hackerspace, but they make a real difference when you are welcoming groups of people into a busy workshop and trying to run events safely.
We have also added new waste separation bins for paper, plastics and general waste. Our social nights can involve quite a few people, and usually quite a lot of pizza, so making it clearer and easier for everyone to separate waste was another practical improvement we wanted to make.
Supporting an open community space
TOG hosts three public access nights each week as well as workshops, talks, community events and our monthly Open Social Night. These are opportunities for people to visit the space, meet others, learn new skills and get involved without needing to be a member.
The equipment funded through the Local Enhancement Programme will be used across all of these activities for years to come. It helps us provide a space that is safer and better organised while giving us more options for bringing activities outdoors and welcoming larger groups.
This fits closely with Goal 4 of the Dublin City Local Economic and Community Plan 2024–2029, which aims to foster communities that are “more sustainable, thriving, safe, caring, welcoming and inclusive.”
A big thank you to the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht, the Dublin City Local Community Development Committee, and Dublin City Council for supporting TOG through the Local Enhancement Programme 2026.
We are already making good use of the new equipment, and you can expect to see plenty more of it at TOG events over the coming years.
The next stop for our All Island Maker Mobility: Connecting Communities Through Making project is ShipItCon in Dublin on 4 September 2026.
We’ll be there with our friends from Farset Labs, sharing a table and talking to the wider tech community about what happens inside community-run spaces like Tog and Farset.
The event comes just after our recent Farset Maker-in-Residence week at Tog, where our members had a chance to spend proper time together, work on projects, take part in Tog activities, and finish the week at Dublin Maker. ShipItCon gives us a chance to build on that momentum and keep those connections growing.
At our shared table, we’ll be showing some of what our communities get up to and talking about the All Island Maker Mobility project. If you’ve ever wondered what happens in a hackerspace or makerspace, come over and say hello.
You can find out more about the event at shipitcon.com.
All Island Maker Mobility is a collaboration between Tog Hackerspace in Dublin and Farset Labs in Belfast, supported by the Shared Island Civic Society Fund through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
We’re very grateful for that support, which is helping our two communities build stronger North-South links through making, learning and shared projects.
Our member Jeffrey Roe recently joined the Book of Leaves podcast to talk about Repair Cafés, TOG and the wider culture of repair.
The conversation covers TOG’s experience running Repair Cafés, some of the unusual things that have come in for repair, our Repair Café in a Box project, Dublin Maker, and why sharing practical repair skills is so important.
Repair Cafés are about more than fixing broken objects. They are also a chance to learn, share knowledge and give people the confidence to have a go at repairing things themselves.
Thanks to Book of Leaves for having Jeffrey on and giving us the chance to talk about the repair community at TOG.
On Saturday, 29 August, TOG Hackerspace will host an afternoon exploring custom-built VR Airsoft controllers.
The project comes from the creator behind the VR-Firearms YouTube channel, who has been developing physical airsoft-style controllers for use in virtual reality.
During the afternoon, there will be a short talk about how the project was developed, a demonstration of the controllers in action, and an opportunity for attendees to try them out for themselves.
Building Custom Hardware for VR
Most consumer VR systems rely on the controllers supplied with the headset, but there is plenty of scope for experimentation when you start designing hardware for a particular experience.
The VR-Firearms project explores how physical airsoft-style controllers can be integrated into virtual reality, combining VR hardware development, controller design and custom physical interfaces.
We’ll get a look at how the controllers work, some of the development challenges involved and how the physical hardware is integrated into the VR environment.
Following the talk and demonstration, attendees will have an opportunity to try the setup and see how the controllers feel in use.
There will also be plenty of time for questions and discussion about the project.
If you’re interested in virtual reality, electronics, hardware hacking, controller design, game development or unusual human-computer interfaces, come along and take a look.
You can see more of the project on the VR-Firearms YouTube channel.
Event Details
VR Airsoft Controllers – Talk, Demo and Hands-On Session
📅 Saturday, 29 August 2026 🕒 3:00 pm – 5:30 pm 📍 TOG Hackerspace
The afternoon will include:
A short talk on the development of the VR Airsoft controller project
A look at the custom hardware and controller design
A live VR demonstration
An opportunity to try the controllers
Questions and discussion
Places will be limited to approximately 20 people.
Tickets are free, with an optional donation to support TOG Hackerspace.
Whether you already work with VR or are simply curious about what happens when you start building your own physical interfaces for virtual worlds, come along and give it a try.
TOG Hackerspace is delighted to be taking part in the Free Community Circular Economy Day in Tallaght on Wednesday, 19th August 2026.
Organised by South Dublin County Council, the free event brings together community groups and repairers for a day focused on repairing, reusing, swapping and giving things a second life.
The event takes place at Fettercairn Community and Youth Centre, Tallaght, D24 W92N, from 10am to 4pm, with a large Repair Café, Clothing Swap and Community Plant Swap.
TOG at the Repair Café
TOG members will be taking part in the Repair Café alongside repairers from the Rediscovery Centre, with our main focus on electronics repair.
Bring along a small electrical or electronic item that has stopped working and we’ll see if we can help diagnose the problem and, where possible, get it working again.
We’ll be helping with:
🔌 Small electrical appliances
💡 Lamps
🧸 Electronic toys
🍳 Kitchen gadgets
📱 Handheld devices
💬 Advice on larger repair and upcycling projects
Where possible, you’ll get a chance to work alongside the repairers, learn what has gone wrong and pick up some useful repair skills.
Repair spaces are available on a first-come, first-served basis, with a maximum of two items per person.
More to Repair and Reuse
The wider Repair Café will also include help with:
🚲 Bike repair and maintenance
🧵 Clothing and textile repair
🪑 Furniture repair
🔌 Electronics repair
There will also be a Clothing Swap and Community Plant Swap, giving people more ways to reuse, share and keep useful items in circulation.
Event Details
Free Community Circular Economy Day 📅 Wednesday, 19th August 2026 🕙 10:00am – 4:00pm 📍 Fettercairn Community and Youth Centre, Tallaght, D24 W92N 🎟️ Free – registration required
