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CoderForge @ Tog – Updated

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NOTE: This has moved to every second Monday night to coincide with Coder Group Night. The first night will be on June 27th 2016.

 

Starting May 11th, until further notice, Tog will be hosting CoderForge nights every Wednesday from 7-9:30 pm.

CoderForge hopes to provide a weekly space for people interested in learning to code. With the current technology available to us it is perfectly feasible to trade as a coder whilst you learn your full skill set. No different to any other apprenticeship. Also using this method gives you the chance to see if coding or software development is something your interested in, it gives you a chance to test the market.

These `forges` also hope to balance some of the shortfalls to the method of training used within some of our educational institutions today, which always appear to be behind the technology that is required by current market forces. At a coder forge the format is flexible enough to change from `nodejs` to `php` or from `python` to whatever the next new big thing is. It is entirely up to those that are present. The coder forges are modeled on the popular `coder-dojo` but with a focus on adults rather than kids, and thus an ability to learn where to find work online and in the locality can also be introduced.

Coder Forge Meetup page.

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Dublin Maker 2016

 

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Dublin Maker is Ireland’s biggest maker community showcase event. It gives a real opportunity for makers to excite and enthuse the general public about
the great making communities and their projects. This year it moves to Merrion Square to allow for even more making madness

The open call for this year’s Dublin Maker is now open to all inventors, makers, hackers and creators. Whether you have taken part before or still tinkering on something crafty, you can apply for a place at our biggest Dublin Maker yet.

OPEN CALL

Tog is proud to be a supporting organisations again this year.  We have been involved in the running of the Dublin Maker since its first year, now almost 5 years ago. We see the event as the highlight of the maker calendar in Ireland.

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Electronic “Build-It” Workshop

line follower*** STOP PRESS …. Our workshop is full for this Saturday. We may run another soon. Get in touch with us on the “contact” link above if you are interested in taking part in our next one ***

We’re holding an electronic “Build-It” workshop in TOG on Saturday 14th May at 14:00. Many visitors to TOG tell us that they would like to get started with electronics, soldering or assembly, but they are unsure how to do so. This workshop will help. The workshop will run for approximately 3 hours. You will get to build (and keep) an electronic kit. The kit that we have chosen is a line-follower robot car. It will follow a black line or any line where there is reasonable contrast. You can see a video of the kit in action here.

The kit comes as a complete set of mechanical and electronic parts including a bare circuit board. You get to do all the electronic assembly and soldering as well as the mechanical assembly. If you’ve never built an electronics kit or soldered before, then this workshop is ideal for you. We’ll show you everything that you need to know. No previous experience at electronics, soldering or kit assembly is needed. We’ll explain the circuit and how it works too. All tools and equipment are provided. The workshop will take about 3 hours from 14:00 – 17:00.

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E-Bike Battery Surgery

battery deadOne of our long term visitors is an e-biker. One of his batteries was on the blink. There was no output on the normal output connectors, but there appeared to be an output via the charge port. We suspected that the balance circuit was shot, but when we opened the battery case, it looked like one of the cells was physically damaged. Lots of pics here.

We ordered a replacement cell. When we removed the bad cell, we noticed some others damaged. It looks like we need 4 replacement cells in all. We plan to cannibalise these from an old spare battery. We tested the remaining cells and they seem able to take a charge and deliver reasonable current. A 2 Ohm power resistor came in handy. Check back with us to see how the rest of the repair went.

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Blackpitts Makeover

spruce upThe front of our building is getting a bit of a makeover. Pics here. New cement render on the outside, painting, new bike racks, steps and ramp cleaned up. Inside we’re getting a spruced up entrance lobby, a new entrance door and other works. Drop in and have a look.