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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 10 people

The demonstration is expected to take approximately 90 minutes.

Booking

Places are strictly limited to 10 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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Building Hardware Flags for WICC 2026

We were delighted to be one of the community organisations supporting the Women’s International Cybersecurity Challenge 2026, held at St Laurence’s on TU Dublin’s Grangegorman Campus on 9 and 10 July.

WICC brought together teams of women cybersecurity competitors from Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas for two days of technical competition, collaboration and international networking.

Fifteen ESP8266 hardware flags

As part of TOG’s contribution to the event, we built 15 hardware flags for use during the Capture the Flag competition.

Each flag was based around an ESP8266 board and housed in a custom 3D-printed case. The finished devices were prepared and tested at TOG before being brought to TU Dublin for the competition.

The different cases featured a range of coloured designs, helping turn the electronics into distinctive physical flags for the competitors to find and interact with.

WICC’s Capture the Flag competition included challenges across areas such as cryptography, reverse engineering, digital forensics, web exploitation, binary exploitation, hardware security and open-source intelligence.

Building physical devices for a cybersecurity competition was a great example of the overlap between making, electronics, programming, 3D printing and cybersecurity that we regularly see at TOG.

Thank you, Ambrose

A huge thank you goes to Ambrose for all their work building, printing, assembling and preparing the flags. Getting 15 devices ready for an international competition takes a significant amount of careful work, and it was fantastic to see them in use at the event.

Thank you also to Zero Days for running WICC and inviting TOG to be part of it. Zero Days runs Capture the Flag competitions and cybersecurity challenges in Ireland, helping participants develop their skills through practical and engaging technical challenges.

Events such as WICC demonstrate how community organisations, universities and industry can work together to create practical and engaging opportunities for people to develop technical skills.

You can learn more about the Women’s International Cybersecurity Challenge at wicc.ie.

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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.