Over the weekend, we hit the road and went to Laois, and what a weekend it was! We managed to fix over 45 items, ranging from toasters to clothes to a whole host of quirky gadgets. People came in with broken stuff, and by the end of the event, many of them were walking out with their favourite items fixed and ready for another lease of life.
But the real heartwarming story of the weekend? It has to be Pauline’s rocking chair, which got a fresh lease of life thanks to our very own Shane Phelan. Now, this wasn’t just any chair; it had history.
Pauline shared a bit about it: “Thanks a million! Chair is fantastic work—my husband is currently sat on it watching a match! It was purchased for my dad (by my mother—they married in 1973) in 1968 for his 21st birthday in June 1968, in Roches Store, Patrick St. Cork! I got it recovered, sanded, varnished, and refurbished (!!🤡) in 2021 but it wasn’t right. Today my husband said he feels more secure in it, so thank you Shane!!”
The rocking chair had been through a lot, but with a little TLC and a touch of Shane’s magic, it’s now back in action and more solid than ever.
The Laois Repair Café was filled with similar stories. There were people bringing in everything from old radios and lamps to stuffed toys and even kitchen appliances, all with one goal: to keep it out of the landfill, and give it another chance. And that’s exactly what we did.
As always, it wasn’t just about repairs. The event was a great chance for people to learn a few tricks, share some stories, and connect with their community. The event was hosted by The CUBE – Low Carbon Centre of Excellence in their lovely building.
These special Repair Café events were only possible with the support of Laois County Council, in collaboration with the Eastern-Midlands Waste Region, and with the generous backing of the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment.
Massive thanks to everyone who came along, and to the volunteers who made it all happen. Check out some of the photos from the weekend in our gallery, and we can’t wait to do it all again soon!
We are excited to announce that we have received support through the Local Enhancement Programme 2025, an initiative from the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht. This grant will play a key role in enhancing our facilities and ensuring the continued success of our community-driven projects.
The Local Enhancement Programme 2025 is designed to assist community organisations, particularly those serving disadvantaged areas, by providing funding for capital improvements and operational costs. For Tog, this means we will be able to improve our infrastructure, expand our offerings, and continue providing a space for innovation, creativity, and hands-on learning. The grant will help ensure that Tog can continue to serve as a collaborative hub for individuals to explore and develop their skills in technology and problem-solving.
With this support, we can offer even more opportunities for our members and visitors to engage in a wide range of workshops and activities, from electronics and 3D printing to IoT and programming. It’s an exciting time for the hackerspace, and we look forward to welcoming more people into our vibrant community.
We encourage everyone to visit Tog Hackerspace during our open nights! Whether you’re a maker, tech enthusiast, or just curious, there’s always something new to discover. Come see what we’re working on and find out how you can get involved in shaping the future of innovation and creativity in our community.
For more information about the Local Enhancement Programme and to see the full list of other projects supported, check out the press release.
We’re excited to be taking our Repair Café on the road again, this time to Laois for a weekend filled with fixing, learning, and community spirit!
Join us at The CUBE – Low Carbon Centre of Excellence in Portlaoise on Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th June 2025, from 11 am to 3 pm each day. We’re teaming up with a fantastic new partner to help give your broken items a second chance.
What can you bring?
We’ll be ready to tackle repairs on a wide range of household items, including:
Clothes and accessories
Toys
Small electrical appliances and electronics
Small furniture
…and more!
We’ll even have PAT (Portable Appliance Testing) available to ensure repaired electrical devices are safe to use.
Whether it’s a wonky toaster, glitchy switch, or a teddy missing a limb—don’t throw it away! Our volunteers will work with you to diagnose and repair your items, all while sharing tips and advice to help you learn new skills.
While you’re waiting, enjoy a cup of tea or coffee and take a tour of The CUBE, a national centre of excellence focused on innovation and sustainability in the low-carbon and renewables sector.
Event Details 🛠️ When: Saturday 28th & Sunday 29th June 2025 ⏰ Time: 11:00 am – 3:00 pm each day 📍 Where: The CUBE, 18 Church Street, Portlaoise, Co. Laois, R32 TP89 🎟️ Admission: Free, but booking in advance via Eventbrite is essential.
This special Repair Café event is only possible thanks to the support of Laois County Council, in collaboration with the Eastern-Midlands Waste Region, and with the generous backing of the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment.
Read about this repair by our own Jeffrey, fixing an old-school CB radio setup.
A member arrived at the space one evening with a pair of CB radios: a Philips 369 (22AP369) and a MARC/CB base station (AP569). It’s hard to pin down the exact year of manufacture, but they likely date back to the 1980s. The two radios and the base station were mostly working, but with a few issues. One radio had no sound from its speaker, and the base station wasn’t outputting any power. Time to open them up.
Power Problems
Four screws and we’re inside. The base station revealed a transformer, an audio amplifier, and a nice fuse holder — with a clearly blown fuse, I could see without even taking out the meter. It was a 220V / 100 mA fuse, which I didn’t have on hand, so the repair was put on hold for a while.
Once I sourced a new fuse and installed it, it blew straight away. So did the next three.
In the end, I increased the rating on the fuse from 100 mA to 200 mA, and it held up. I adjusted the output to 13.8 volts, and it seemed to settle down. Maybe it’s just the age of the components that’s causing it to draw more current than expected?
Radio Repairs
Next up: the speaker issue. The sound worked perfectly on an external speaker, but nothing from the internal one. I noticed two mystery wires someone had added to the radio at some point. Curious, I opened it up.
I found a spare speaker in my stash with the same resistance (8 Ω) and rated for 0.5 W. It looked similar in size — the wattage might not be an exact match, but it was worth a test. A few crocodile clips later, and I had sound. Turns out the original speaker was just blown.
A little soldering and the new speaker was in. As for those mystery wires? I chose to embrace a little bit of mystery and just taped them up safely. Sometimes it’s okay not to know everything.
Antenna Adventure
Maybe I look like a radio person now. At the last Repair Café in Blanchardstown Library, someone randomly offered me a CB radio antenna — without me even mentioning radio! It was missing a few parts, but it worked well enough for testing.
With that, both radios were working again. I might be a few decades late to catch any actual CB chatter, but this was a fun little repair project. To actually transmit between the two radios, I’d need another antenna — but that’s a task for another day.
Check out our gallery for even more photos of the repair. Photos here.
Got something old and broken? Join us at a future Repair Café or electronics night at Tog Hackerspace and bring it back to life, or at least enjoy taking it apart!
We’re packing up projects, charging the batteries, and heading south—Tog Hackerspace is back at the Cork Carnival of Science this weekend, Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th of June, in the beautiful Fitzgerald Park.
As veterans of this fantastic festival, we’re excited to return and share our love of making with the people of Cork once again. It’s one of our favourite science outreach events of the year!
This year, we’re making the journey by car and train, carrying our interactive projects across the country to take part in the science-fuelled fun. Whether by road or rail, no distance is too far when it comes to spreading maker magic and hands-on learning.
The Cork Carnival of Science is packed with family-friendly experiments, live shows, garden games, food stalls, and all kinds of interactive activities. It’s an amazing celebration of curiosity and creativity—and a perfect match for what we love to do.
📍 You’ll find us on Discover Drive, where we’ll be showing off an assortment of interactive games and projects built in our hackerspace. Expect blinking LEDs, DIY gadgets, mechanical puzzles, and more. Come explore what’s possible when creativity meets technology!
We believe strongly in science outreach—in sparking curiosity, encouraging learning, and making tech more approachable for everyone. Events like this are how we connect with communities, share our knowledge, and hopefully inspire the next generation of makers.
🕚 We’ll be there both days from 11 am to 6 pm, ready to welcome visitors of all ages.
So if you’re in the Cork area, come join us for some hands-on fun! Bring your curiosity—we’ll bring the projects.
A blog post by our member, Jeffrey Roe, on his trip to Edinburgh.
At the end of May, I headed off to Edinburgh for a long weekend full of hardware hacking, radio waves, refurbished tech, and just a little too much cake. The trip centred around the Open Hardware Summit 2025, which took place on the 30th and 31st of May in The Nucleus Building at The University of Edinburgh.
The last time I attended an Open Hardware Summit was way back in Maker Faire New York 2012, so it was a real treat to be back at such a key event in the open hardware calendar. The talks this year were fantastic, touching on everything from accessible design to space exploration.
One of the nice surprises of the summit was getting to meet up with others from Dublin who were also attending. I had a great chat with the team behind EIRSAT-1, Ireland’s first satellite, who were showcasing their testing equipment. It’s always refreshing to run into familiar faces and see Irish projects represented at international events, and we even had dinner together.
Saturday: Workshop Day
Saturday was all about rolling up my sleeves and getting stuck into workshops. I signed up for three sessions and left each one with a new creation in hand.
Opencyclone – A Vacuum You Can Build Yourself This workshop involved assembling a fully working vacuum cleaner using open source plans and a bit of elbow grease. Loud? Yes. Satisfying? Absolutely. More details on the project here: Opencyclone Project
Shortwave Collective – Open Wave Receiver A beautiful, social workshop where we built a basic but effective radio receiver that can tune into the shortwave bands. There’s something magical about hearing signals bounce around the world using only passive components and a wire for an antenna.
Ribbit Network – CO₂ Sensor Workshop Frogs and sensors—what’s not to love? This community science project helps build a distributed network of open hardware CO₂ sensors. I now have my own Ribbit sensor ready to go!
The evening ended with the Open Source Open Mic, where makers shared stories, sang songs, and showcased their creative projects in a welcoming atmosphere. It was a lovely way to wind down after a busy day of building.
Sunday: Art, Nature & Hacking Spaces
On Sunday, I took some time to explore more of what Edinburgh had to offer beyond the summit. I started the morning with a peaceful stroll through the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, soaking up some greenery and grabbing a moment to reflect after two busy days of hardware excitement.
I made a return visit to Summerhall (Last visited in 2017 for Maker Faire), this time exploring more of its galleries and installations. It’s an inspiring venue for both art and tech events, with a real sense of creative energy running through its halls.
Later, I visited Edinburgh Hackspace, a highlight of the day. Tucked away but buzzing with activity, the space was full of tools, interesting projects, and most importantly, very welcoming people. We chatted about how their space operates, community challenges, and shared experiences around running public workshops and events. It reminded me a lot of Tog, and I left with a few ideas we might borrow!
Monday: From Cake to Circular Tech
After all the indulgences of the weekend (I’ll link to my full vegan cake round-up below!), I kicked off Monday with a workout at a local health club before taking a short walk to the Scottish Parliament and Palace of Holyroodhouse for a tour.
That afternoon, I headed out to Leith to visit the Edinburgh Remakery. The team there were incredibly generous with their time. We talked about their work in tech refurbishment, sustainability education, and their Repair Café events. There are a lot of parallels between their mission and the work we do at Tog, especially around community-led repair and reuse. It’s always great to meet people tackling e-waste in practical, inclusive ways.
Wrapping Up
All in all, it was a brilliant weekend packed with tech, community, creativity, and inspiration. Edinburgh has a lot to offer, both for hackers and visitors alike. If you’re curious about the non-maker side of the trip, including my deep dive into Edinburgh’s vegan cafés and cake scene, check out my Mastodon account.
