Epson Stylus Pro 9500 large form printer

Epson Printer

We, at tog, like to extend the usability of items for as long as possible. (Or at least that is our excuse for all the out-of-date tech laying about.) So back in May of last year when we were offered a very large format printer, it was hard to say no. (Stay with me sewists.)

Some members took it in, gave it some TLC, and we even found a roll of paper at ReCreate! But then we hit a problem. The last available drivers for it are Windows XP 32-bit. Which is not exactly commonplace anymore.

Then, a short while, and some internet searching, ago, we discovered that gutenprint-cups, the default printing facility on many linux distros actually supports this printer! It’s not hard to install; plug in the USB cable, open a browser, go to http://localhost:631/ and press the right buttons. Done.

Long story short; the printer lives again! And for you sewists out there; ever buy a digital pattern and have to spend hours taping together A4 sheets? Well, if you can also get a large form pattern, you won’t have to do that anymore! Just visit tog some Craft Night and we’ll sort you out!

Metal Lathe

latheLate last year TOG took delivery of a new toy…. a brand new metal lathe. At about 600Kg, it’s probably the heaviest bit of equipment that we have in the space. We had some fun getting it in the door……and yes we did measure the door before we ordered it 🙂 . A bit of heaving and ho’ing with an engine crane and we soon had it up on its cabinet stands. We spent a few weeks assembling it, reviewing all the accessories and getting it all tested. We have 3 and 4 jaw chucks, live and dead centres, steady rests and a number of other tools and accessories.

We’ve had some great instruction from one of our members relatives. We’re now slowly beginning to use it. Our crafters kindly made a nice protective cover from some spare vinyl. The lathe is a great addition to our workshop . We have a brand new MIG welder on the way too, thanks to one of our regular workshop user/members.  We even have a CNC Mill in our sights too….right Ed 🙂 .  Drop in and have a tour of our workshop. You can see all of our tools and equipment. More pics here…..Lathe Pics

 

29c3 Lightning Talks & Recap

Over the Christmas break 8 TOG members took Road trip to 29c3 where we meet several other Hackerspaces. We had the pleasure of doing two Lightning talks one on Hotel Door locks and Fire Projects.

Our members also ran two workshops on Wearables and Hotel locks. We where able to attend lots of workshops across the 3 days and bring back lots more ideas for future projects in TOG.

We also got to visiting local hacker space Attraktor http://blog.attraktor.org/ we got the grand tour of space and got look at all the toys (8 CNC machines, leaths and milling machines well worth the visit very nice people and inviting to the space.

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The Need for Speed


Speed Increase
Fast internet has always been important at TOG. Our internet speed has been upgraded from 8Mb to 20Mb, now also allowing for truly unlimited downloads.

As part of the changes we also changed landline number. If the space is open, before dropping in during the day, the landline can be used to check if it’s going to close shortly. Our new number is 076-6035359 or you can call us for free via a SIP phone device sip:togtogtog@87.198.25.1:60773 or blueface ext: 39367

International Space Apps Challenge

On the 21st to 22nd of April, TOG will host the Dublin base for the International Space Apps Challenge.

The International Space Apps Challenge is a two day event that will be taking place all over the world and off world (on the International Space Station). The event is aimed at solving global problems through collaboration both at the local and international level.

There are four main categories of challenges: software, open hardware, citizen science, and data visualisation. You can collaborate on one of the listed challenges or you can propose your own challenge for people to collaborate on.

You can register to take part in the event at http://spaceappschallenge.org/location/tog. TOG will be open for the duration of the event, and if you have any questions, please post a comment.

Note: This a free two day (or overnight) event. Please only register if you can attend both days as the number of places are limited. You can also register if you can only make one day or part of the day.

The plan is to start at 12:00 (noon) on Saturday. We are collecting useful information about our activities here