Category: Workshops/Events

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PCB Design from Scratch: From Schematic to Finished Board

Have you ever built an electronics project on a breadboard and wondered how to turn it into a finished printed circuit board?

Join us at TOG Hackerspace for PCB Design from Scratch, a live demonstration of the complete PCB design process using KiCad, a free and open-source electronics design application.

Starting with a blank project, Roman will demonstrate how a circuit develops from its first schematic diagram into a PCB layout that can be sent to a manufacturer. The example will be a deliberately simple circuit featuring an LED, a couple of integrated circuits and a selection of passive components.

The aim of the evening is to show the complete journey from an electronic idea to a professionally manufactured circuit board without getting lost in an overly complicated design.

What will be covered?

During the demonstration, you will see:

  • How to start a new PCB project in KiCad
  • How to create a schematic diagram
  • How to turn the schematic into a PCB layout
  • How electronic components are positioned and connected
  • How the finished design is prepared for manufacturing
  • How a PCB order is submitted to a manufacturer

This event is ideal for electronics hobbyists, makers and anyone curious about how printed circuit boards are designed.

Please note that this is a live demonstration rather than a hands-on workshop.

Event details

Date: Friday, 14 August 2026
Time: 7:30 pm–9:00 pm
Location: TOG Hackerspace
Places: Limited to 20 people

The demonstration is expected to take approximately 90 minutes.

Booking

Places are strictly limited to 20 attendees, and advance booking is required.

Book your place through Eventbrite

Early booking is recommended, as this is a small session and places may fill quickly.

A note about the photos

The circuit boards shown in the photos were made during a previous project at TOG and are included for illustration only. They are not the boards that will be designed during this event.

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The Irish Embassy Returns to Electromagnetic Field 2026

TOG members and friends are heading to Electromagnetic Field 2026 from 16 to 19 July, where we will once again be helping to run the Irish Embassy village.

Electromagnetic Field, better known as EMF Camp, is a volunteer-run camping festival for hackers, makers, artists, engineers, scientists and anyone interested in technology and creativity. The festival brings together talks, workshops, installations, projects and villages for four days at Eastnor Castle Deer Park in the UK.

At EMF, villages are self-organised camping and activity areas built around shared interests. The Irish Embassy is a loose collective of people with a connection to, or interest in, Ireland.

Despite the name, we are not connected to the Irish Government. Expect tea, projects, power adaptors and microcontrollers rather than passports and visas.

Following on from the Irish Embassy at EMF 2024, we have another busy programme planned.

Landing, Setup and Getting to Know Each Other

We will begin on Thursday with an informal landing and setup session. Drop by the village, meet your neighbours and help us get the shared space ready for the weekend.

Hardware CTF

On Friday, the Irish Embassy will host a drop-in Hardware CTF challenge.

Participants will use one of our custom ESP8266 challenge boards to solve a series of hardware and software puzzles. Bring a laptop and see how many flags you can capture.

Make Your Own Extension Lead

Our Make Your Own Extension Lead workshop will introduce participants to safely wiring a Type G plug and extension lead.

The session will cover cable preparation, plug wiring, fuses, strain relief and basic electrical safety.

IoT with Arduino Cloud

The beginner-friendly IoT with Arduino Cloud workshop will show participants how to connect an ESP32 and environmental sensors to the internet.

Participants will collect sensor readings and display them through an online Arduino Cloud dashboard.

Build Your Own Satellite Ground Station

In the Build Your Own Satellite Ground Station workshop, participants will assemble a TinyGS station and antenna.

TinyGS is a community network of low-cost ground stations that can receive signals from LoRa satellites, CubeSats and other objects passing overhead.

Build Your Own Air Quality Sensor

Our Build Your Own Air Quality Sensor workshop will introduce participants to environmental monitoring and citizen science.

Participants will assemble an internet-connected sensor that measures particulate matter, temperature, humidity and air pressure.

Visit the Irish Embassy

When there is no workshop or challenge running, the Irish Embassy will be a place to meet people, share projects, compare notes and relax with a cup of tea.

Anyone attending EMF with a connection to, or interest in, Ireland is welcome to visit. Check the Irish Embassy village page for our location and the latest programme information.

You can also follow the Irish Embassy on Mastodon at @irishembassy@chaos.social for updates from the village during EMF Camp.

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TOG joins 145 Alive for a day on 2 metres

On Sunday 12 July, TOG Hackerspace will be putting the club callsign EI0TOG on the air for 145 Alive.

145 Alive is a day to get people chatting on 2 metres, dust off the handhelds, call into a local net and see who is about. TOG will be one of four Irish nets taking part, alongside stations in Tipperary, Mayo and Donegal.

Jeffrey, EI7IRB, and Tomasz, EI2KSB, will be running the Dublin City net from TOG. Listen out for EI0TOG on 145.425 MHz FM between 12pm and 3pm, and give us a call. Whether you are on a home station, in the car or out with a handheld, we would love to hear you.

Of course, the nicest way to take part is to come along in person. Everyone is welcome at TOG Hackerspace, Unit 1B Motor City, Kylemore Road, Dublin 12, D12 CF6V. Licensed amateurs can get on the air, while SWLs and anyone who is simply curious about amateur radio can see the station in use, meet a few radio people and have a supervised go themselves.

It should be a nice relaxed afternoon of calls, chat and hopefully a busy band. See you on 2 metres.

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Ealaín Solas: Build & Explore Polarised Light

Cancelled due to Jeffrey getting his arm in a cast. It will be back soon again.

Ever wondered what hidden colours and patterns are waiting inside ordinary transparent materials?

Join us at TOG Hackerspace on Sunday 12 July for Ealaín Solas: Build & Explore Polarised Light, a hands-on workshop where art, science and making come together.

Using simple materials, you will make your own polarised-light viewer and use it to explore tape, plastics, screens and other everyday objects in a completely new way. With the right combination of light and polarising film, these familiar materials can reveal bright colours, stress patterns and unexpected geometric designs.

During the workshop, you will:

  • Make a polarised-light viewer to take home
  • Explore colourful effects in transparent materials
  • Experiment with tape, plastics and other everyday objects
  • Learn a little about how polarised light works
  • Create your own light-based patterns and images

No previous experience is needed, and all tools and materials are provided. It is a relaxed, beginner-friendly workshop for anyone interested in light, colour, science, art or making.

Date: Sunday 12 July 2026
Time: 3:30 pm–6:00 pm
Cost: €20
Location: TOG Hackerspace, Unit 1B Motor City, Kylemore Road, Dublin 12

Places are limited, so booking is essential.

https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/ealain-solas-build-explore-polarised-light-tickets-1992782032704?aff=oddtdtcreator

Stay for Craft Night

It is also Sunday Craft Night at TOG. The workshop will finish in plenty of time before Craft Night starts at 6:30 pm, so bring along a project or stay on afterwards for all sorts of crafting fun.

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Repair Club: Buttons & Patches Edition

Our new Repair Club series is back, and this time we are turning our attention to clothes.

After taking a look at lamp repair in our first session, the next Repair Club will focus on buttons, patches, and simple textile repairs. It is a practical evening for anyone who would like to make their clothes last a little longer, learn a useful skill, or finally tackle that missing button that has been sitting in a drawer for months.

Repair Club is a little different from a Repair Café. Rather than bringing along a whole range of broken things to be fixed, we take a deeper dive into one type of repair and learn about it together.

For this session, we will be getting hands-on with simple repairs for woven fabrics. We will practise sewing buttons back on by hand, adding patches by hand, and looking at when a machine-sewn patch might make more sense. We will also talk about visible versus invisible mending, and how a small repair can help keep a favourite item in use for years to come.

The focus will be on items such as shirts, trousers, jackets, cushions, toys, bags, and similar things. Stretchy fabrics such as socks and T-shirts are a different challenge, so they will have to wait for another day.

Please bring along one or two clean items that need a button replaced or a small hole patched. This will be a friendly, beginner-focused session, so no sewing experience is needed. If you are not sure whether your item is suitable, get in touch with us before the event.

The session will be led by TOG member Tríona.

Event Details

Date: Wednesday, 22 July 2026
Time: 7:30 pm–9:00 pm
Location: TOG Hackerspace
Cost: €7.50, with ticket income going as a donation to TOG

Book your place on Eventbrite

Come along, learn a few useful skills, and give a favourite item a better chance of staying out of the bin.

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Touchdesigner Dublin Meetup – June Event

image created in touchdesigner software depicting a statue of Oscar Wilde in Dublin's Merrion Square
Touchdesigner Dublin Meetup -June event

We are hosting an open TouchDesigner meetup with demos, hands-on learning, and space to share work with others using the software.

The meetup is part of a series of monthly events in collaboration with @noid_lab typically on the last Wednesday each month in the space, so this month it’s 1st July 7-10pm.

This will be our last meetup for the summer! We are taking a small break for the holiday season, and hope to resume in the Autumn.

Workshop

This month’s event will focus on MIDI integration in TouchDesigner, exploring how MIDI data can be used to control visuals, trigger events, manipulate parameters, and connect external hardware to interactive and audiovisual systems. Through demonstrations, we’ll look at practical workflows for working with MIDI devices.

Format

The session will run for around three hours in a relaxed, hands-on setting.

The event will focus on learning, with a combination of scheduled short and long presentations/demonstrations. The last hour will take a more flattened and open approach, allowing the space for people to chat, share, learn, and explore TouchDesigner.

Expect an informal, community-driven environment where the format adapts to participants. So if you would like to bring your laptop and learn the basics, share your projects, or connect with other using the software, this meetup offers a welcoming and supportive space to do so.

The event is also a great opportunity to meet other creative technologists and artists, and to continue building the growing the digital art community in Ireland.

Contact us at noidlab.collective@gmail.com to share ideas for future sessions or to express interest in presenting your work.

@noid_lab offer thanks to @toghackerspace for use of the space for these events, and Derivative for supporting the project. The meetups are hosted each month by a group of artists and creative technologists.

https://www.tog.ie