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Hack & Chill: Hardware Capture the Flag

Hack & Chill: Hardware Capture the Flag

This Friday, 23 October, we’re getting stuck into some hardware hacking at TOG, with a special Capture the Flag session from 7 to 9 pm.

Think of it as a puzzle hunt on a small circuit board. There are 15 logical puzzles to work through, with hidden answers known as “flags” to discover. It’s a mix of hardware, software and figuring things out, with no soldering required.

The project brings together ESP8266 microcontroller boards and custom 3D-printed cases. TOG built hardware flags for the Women’s International Cybersecurity Challenge 2026, and the project also featured in the Irish Embassy programme at EMF Camp this summer. Now it’s your turn to have a go at the hackerspace.

Last week’s session didn’t go ahead, so we’re putting both parts into one evening:

7–8 pm: Have a go. Work through the challenges at your own pace. Well be around to help you get started, offer hints and help where we can.

8–9 pm: See how it’s done. We’ll go through the challenges step by step, explaining how to find each flag and the techniques involved.

Whether you’ve tried a CTF before or are just curious about hardware hacking, come along and try it out.

You can borrow the hardware for the evening or buy a board from us to keep experimenting at home.

Bring a laptop and your own USB-C data cable. Make sure the cable supports data, as a charging-only cable won’t work.

Where: TOG Hackerspace, Unit 1B Motor City, Kylemore Road, Dublin 12, D12 CF6V.

Read more about building the hardware flags.

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Repair Club: Bra repair with Lovelace Space

A blackboard notice about Repair Club for Bras on Nov 5th at 7pm with a drawing of a bra

Repair Club is back, and so are our friends from Lovelace Space. Repair Club is an ongoing series where you learn to repair household items, and for this edition we’re learning to repair bras. They can fail in a number of ways, from broken wires to failing hooks, and rather than sending them to landfill, let’s bring them back to ilfe.

A pile of bras surrounded by underwires and sewing notions.

From 7pm on Thursday 5th November, we’ll look at how to keep wires in their place, how to replace them, how to swap out the hooks and eyes, and other ways bras can be repaired. Parts will be provided apart from replacement wires (but we’ll organise ordering a batch of them to be collected at a later date after making sure we’re ordering the right size).

The hooks from the back of a bra, they're trying to escape their housing and are in need of replacement

If you’ve never touched a sewing machine, this is not the class to start, but if you’ve wielded a zigzag stitch before, then sign right up! Grab that stash of bras you’ve been meaning to figure out how to fix, and join us!

A broken wire and an unbroken wire on a cutting mat

Tickets are €10 plus fees and can be found here:

https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/repair-club-bra-repair-with-lovelace-space-tickets-2003561078119?aff=oddtdtcreator

This event is a collaboration with Lovelace Space; you can learn more on their website.

A tesselated graphic of ada lovelace with lovelace space written beneath
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Bringing back the craft mailing list

e-mail in hand inked blackletter

Let’s be honest, in these days of fractured social media, it’s hard to beat email. So as well as posting to socials, we’ll be adding a craft mailing list for all your crafting needs. Get reminders about craft night and hear about upcoming classes or workshops with a crafting angle.

Sign up here , if you have a google account :

A screenshot of a googlegroups screen with a box highlighting the "Ask to join group" button

If you’d don’t have a google account, you can ask to join the list sending an email to craft+subscribe(at)lists.tog.ie ( with an @). You’ll get an email asking you to confirm your subscription request but you do not need a google account if you reply to the email instead of clicking the button.

You’ll need to wait for a moderator to approve your request (might a day or two depending).

There’s still the broadcasts list for general Tog topics and you can also email to subscribe with the same format broadcasts+subscribe (at) lists.tog.ie (for those without google accounts) and then replying to the email.

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Repair, Reuse and More Pockets: Climate Action Week with TOG

Climate Action Week runs from 12 to 18 October, and TOG is taking part with three events focused on repair, reuse and sharing practical skills.

At TOG, that can mean opening up a broken appliance, making an existing piece of clothing more useful, or helping someone build the confidence to try a repair themselves. Keeping things in use for longer helps reduce waste and the need for replacements. It is also a good reason to get people together and share what we know.

Seditious Pockets with Lovelace Space
Wednesday 14 October, 7 pm to 9 pm, at TOG

Our friends from Lovelace Space are joining us for a workshop on adding pockets to clothes you already own. Tríona and Maria will guide you through hand and machine sewing techniques, using reused materials sourced from Change Clothes.

No sewing experience is needed. Bring a freshly laundered garment that could do with a pocket or two. The workshop costs €5, covering materials and a small contribution towards TOG’s running costs.

Fix It, Don’t Bin It! in Laois
Thursday 15 October, 7 pm, at the Old School, Raheen

Our member Jeffrey Roe will lead a repair workshop hosted by Portlaoise Men’s Shed as part of the Laois Climate Action Festival. It is a chance to share practical repair skills and help more people give everyday items another chance. This session is for Men’s Shed members and is free to attend. The link above opens the event’s page in the festival programme.

International Repair Day at TOG’s Repair Café
Saturday 17 October, 12 noon to 4 pm, at TOG

Bring along a broken or worn item and work with our volunteer fixers to see what can be done. We can take a look at clothes, toys, small appliances, electronics and small furniture. PAT safety testing for electrical devices will also be available, along with tea, coffee and tours of the space.

The event also marks International Repair Day, joining communities around the world in celebrating repair.

We are members of Community Resources Network Ireland (CRNI), which supports community organisations working on reuse, repair and recycling. These events put that shared approach into practice: keeping useful things in use, sharing skills and helping people take action together.

The two Dublin events take place at TOG Hackerspace, Unit 1B Motor City, Kylemore Road, Dublin 12, D12 CF6V. Follow the event links above for full details and booking.

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Learn Turtlestitch with our friends CESI

A screenshot of a turtlestitch program for generating a Sierpinski triangle with the generated output

Our friends at CESI will be hosting a Turtlestitch workshop on Saturday 21st of November from 2pm to 5pm. Turtlestitch is a way to code up embroidery patterns using code blocks. It’s often used as a teaching tool for coding, but also a fun way to generate embroidery patterns.

Whether you’re new to coding or new to embroidery, there’ll be plenty to learn. This workshop is aimed at adults interested in embroidery or teaching coding. It will be led by Mags Amond with support from John Hegarty and Helen O’Kelly. You’ll find out about the history of Turtlestitch, learn how to create embroidery designs, and stitch them out on our industrial machine and some of the smaller domestic machines that will be brought on the day.

Mags and John in their Turtlestitch embroidered apron and labcoat.
A postcard embroidered with repeating diamonds. In the corner is the turtlestitch website and logo.
An embroidered postcard from Turtlestitch on a fridge.

The workshop will cost €10 and includes materials. Tickets can be bought with this link..

https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/learn-turtlestitch-with-cesi-at-tog-tickets-2003335570620?aff=oddtdtcreator

A triskelion embroidred in variegated thread

We’ll be holding our usual open social from 7pm, so stick around if you like homemade pizza from homemade pizza ovens and talking to nerds.

If you don’t know CESI, they’re a group of educators with an interest using information technology in education.

The CESI owl, as an embroidered badge
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Celebrate International Repair Day at TOG’s Repair Café

Have something broken at home that you keep meaning to sort out? Bring it along to our next Repair Café at TOG Hackerspace this Saturday, 17 October, from 12 noon to 4pm.

The day is also International Repair Day, and our event is part of Climate Action Week, which runs from 12 to 18 October. A good excuse to tackle that broken lamp, troublesome kitchen gadget or toy that has stopped doing its thing.

At a Repair Café, you sit down with a volunteer fixer and work together to see what can be done. We bring the tools and repair know-how, and you bring your item and a bit of curiosity. You do not need any repair experience.

We can take a look at things like clothes and accessories, toys, small electrical appliances, electronics and small furniture. If your item needs a charger, power supply or another part to work, please bring that along too.

Safety testing for electrical devices, known as Portable Appliance Testing (PAT), will also be available.

Sometimes a repair is straightforward. Sometimes it takes a little investigation. We cannot promise to fix everything, but we will do our best and help you understand what might be needed next.

You can have a go at repairing your item or watch and learn over a tea or coffee. TOG members will also be on hand to give you a tour of the space while you wait.

Repairing things keeps useful items in use for longer, reduces waste and saves the resources needed to make replacements. It can also save money and help us learn practical skills. Every Repair Café brings people together to share what they know and give a few more things another chance.

Have a look around the house, rescue something from the “I’ll fix that someday” pile, and join us this Saturday.

This event is supported by Dublin Maker, and we are delighted to have their support again for another afternoon of community repair.