Over the last month in Tog Hackerspace, we’ve been in full festive production mode. Between design chats, test cuts, cutting sessions, and the inevitable packing table chaos, we’ve put together around 80 Christmas decorations and cards, and got them into the post as a small thank you to friends and supporters of the space.
A big thanks to Ambrose for this year’s design. It looks great, it cuts beautifully, and it gave us the perfect excuse to properly put our new laser cutter through its paces. Huge credit as well to Jeffrey for putting in serious hours on the cutting and keeping the run moving.
First big run on the new laser cutter
This was the first proper big production run on our new VEVOR 100W CO2 Laser Engraver, and it has worked brilliantly. Clean cuts, consistent results, and a far smoother process than you might expect for a first large batch. For a community workshop tool, reliability matters, and this one has already earned its keep.
Upcycled acrylic, from old shelves to Christmas decorations
One of our favourite parts of this year’s batch is the material story. The acrylic we used is upcycled. It came from a donation of bookshelves that had lived in the space for years. They did their job, but we don’t have a use for them anymore, so instead of sending the material off to waste, we turned it into something small, useful, and festive.
We also took a hint from the internet along the way. After listening to feedback, we’ve been filling up the sheets of material with more little extras to reduce waste. Of course, it’s ducks 🦆
A proper team effort
This run was a whole team effort across the month. From early design chats, to setup and test cuts, to sorting, packing, and getting everything ready for the post, loads of people chipped in. If you helped at any point, thank you. These batches only happen because the community shows up.
Photo gallery
Link: https://www.tog.ie/gallery/nggallery/album/christmas-baubles-2025
Open letter
Dear Tog Hackerspace Friends,
As the year draws to a close, we are sending good holiday wishes to you from everyone here at Tog Hackerspace. We’ve enclosed a little festive decoration, designed and crafted by our members, as a token of appreciation from our community to yours.
2025 has been a great year for our community, full of creativity, hard work and collaboration. We wanted to share some highlights from the past year with you:
- We have continued to run Repair Cafés in partnership with Dublin Maker, both in our own space and in collaboration with other communities, including Laois County Council, Tullamore Library and the Rethink Your Stuff Carnival in Kilkenny.
- We hosted amateur radio events, including an Experiment Day where we tuned in to the International Space Station, and connected with the amateur radio community at events like IRTS Hamfest. As of this year, we are a registered radio club with IRTS and ComReg, and have our very own call sign: EI0TOG.
- Our regular activities like electronics nights, Open House Tuesdays, lockpicking night, Science Fiction book club and our monthly open socials provided opportunities for makers to come together, learn from each other and socialise. In 2025, we launched a new regular night, Hack & Chill on Friday evenings, for people interested in exploring computer security and hardware hacking.
- We started hosting TouchDesigner Dublin meetups, giving artists and creative technologists in Dublin an opportunity to learn and collaborate.
- As part of Science Week, we ran a workshop on building air quality sensors, enabling members of our community to learn electronics skills and participate in citizen science.
- We participated in events like PyCon Ireland, Dublin Maker, the EPA Circular Economy Conference, Culture Night, WHY2025 and Cork Carnival of Science.
Looking ahead to 2026, we’re excited about what’s to come:
- A Repair Café on Sunday, 18th January, kicking off another year of fixing and sharing.
- More workshops and projects, with a focus on IoT, space tech, and citizen science, alongside our usual mix of crafting, electronics, and woodworking.
- And, of course, Tog’s 17th Birthday party on 24th January 2026! It’ll be a chance to reflect on 17 years of creativity, learning, and friendship, and we’d love for you to join us.
From all of us at Tog, we wish you happy holidays and a happy New Year. Thank you for being part of our journey and for making this community what it is. Here’s to a fantastic 2026!
All the best,
Jeffrey Roe
Tog Hackerspace
www.tog.ie