Category: News

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Carnival of Science

Cork Carnival of Science at Fitzgerald Park features non-stop, family-friendly experiments, interactive activities, garden games, street cuisine and a packed line-up of live demonstrations, big top shows, hands on workshops and entertainment. Activities will include making batteries, meeting live zoo animals, checking out the inner workings of robots and extracting DNA with free entry for all to enjoy.

Taking place on Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th of June 2022. 

Cork Carnival of Science features seated Big Top shows from RTE’s science show Lets Find Out “Mark the Science Guy” and Science Magic from W5 Belfast. Hands on workshops are offered by the Royal Society of Chemistry, MadLab, Learn it LEGO Education, Bubbly Maths and include. Marquees from Analog Devices feature interactive exhibits and challenges, and you can journey into space with Blackrock Castle Observatory. Throughout the day walk about performances will pop up from Eureka Edinburgh, Dr. Ken and Circus 250. Activity stands will be provided by Lifetime Lab, UCC Chemistry, UCC School of BEES, Fota Wildlife Park, Tyndall, Cork Sports Partnership and many many more.

We will be leaving Dublin and heading to Cork to showcase a range of maker-related projects and DIY culture. We will have interactive projects for visitors to try out and get hands on. See you all in Cork.

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Repair Café Round Up

An event that was months in the works took place last week. We have been working on bringing a RepairCafe back to Dublin and it turned out brilliantly. https://www.tog.ie/2022/04/repair-cafe/

We had 36 items in for repair over the course of the day. Each one had a story and history behind it. Our visitors didn’t want to see it just end up in landfill. They wanted to see the items live on.

There were significant costs such as additional insurance, a PAT tester and PAT training. Without support from the @Accenture_Irl funding on the @ChangexHQ platform, it would not have been possible. Thanks to them we could put on this event. #AccentureSustainabilityChallenge

We also need to thank our local @RSIreland for the consumables that were used in many of the electronic/electrical repairs.

Lastly, we need to say thanks to all the fixers. We had both members of @TOG_Dublin and non-members helping out on the day. Without you, it would have just been an empty room. We will see you all at the next cafe in three months.

Check out more photos in our gallery from the event.

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Lockpicking Night at Tog

We host a Lockpicking night every two weeks on a Thursday evening from 7 pm in our space. Join us as we teach the various methods of picking and bypassing common locks in Ireland.

We have all the all equipment and tools to get you started on the night. The intent for the night is to have all lock enthusiasts together to pick locks, show new tools, techniques and make lockpicking more social. Only so much can be done stuck in the workshop, office, or sitting on the couch. Feel free to come along for even just an hour.

Check out our meetup page to know which Thursday it’s on. https://www.meetup.com/Tog-Dublin-Hackerspace/

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Repair Café

Do you have broken items at-home – clothes, small appliances, toys, electronics?

No need to throw them away!
Save your things from the landfill and your wallet from having to replace them.


Bring them to our repair café and learn how to fix them together with our volunteers. We have tools, materials, space to work on your item, and repair experts who will help you with your repair.

TOG members will be on hand to show you around the space – come and enjoy a tea or coffee and a tour while you wait!

What objects can you bring in?

  • Clothes and accessories
  • Toys
  • Small electrical appliances and electronics
  • Small furniture
    … and many other things!
    Safety (PAT) testng for electrical devices will be available.

Where? – TOG, Unit 1B Motor City
Kylemore Road, Dublin 12
When? – Sunday April 24th, 11 am – 4 pm
Admission free – all are welcome!

If you would like to be a fixer, drop us an email.

Spread the word and put up a poster.

This event was made possible with funding from the Accenture Sustainability Challenge.

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A journey of repair – Dynatron SRX 26

Let’s go on a journey of repair with Jeffrey. We have a Dynatron radio model SRX 26. I think it’s from the 1970s. The radio came from Henry which has been in his family since it was new. Unfortunately it has been waiting on me to repair it since September 2020.

I started off by wiping all the dust I have let fall on it. It is a crazy heavy thing. The best way to start is to have a good look over the radio. The point is to find any problems with the cable and to check it is safe before ever plugging it in. It also seems to be missing its record player cartridge (the needle).

The radio lead and fuse are the next places to check. It is using an older style of plug that should be replaced at some point. The fuse and lead are fine. Now for a power-on test. the unit is not showing any signs of life.

Now to take it apart and show everyone’s favourite part the insides. There looks to be other historical repairs carried out. If you look at the above image on the left-hand side.

An internal mains fuse looks very “crusty”. After taking it out it’s clearly blown. There are also two more fuses that are blown. The type of fuse is nicely labelled on the radio but I had none in stock. A short walk down to RS and picked up a bag of replacement fuses.

It came alive! Well it turns on anyway. The next step to try and find some suitable audio leads to test the sound. I only had a headphone adaptor but soon was getting sound from the radio but with a lot of hisses.

To overcome the hiss, I attacked all the knobs with some switch cleaner. You take off all the knobs and spray in the fluid. Give the knobs a good turn, backwards and forwards to work in the cleaner.

The last job was to mount the speaker port that was loose in the cabinet. Unfortunately without that type of lead, I could not test it. 

Check out the radio in action in the video above. The radio seems to work fine with headphones. The turntable needs a cartridge but that is a job for the radio owner. If you would like to see more photos of the repair check out our gallery.

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Tog at Security BSides Dublin

Security BSides Dublin is taking place in the Convention Centre Dublin for an in-person event on the 19th of March 2022.

The conference brings together renowned Information Security professionals from all over the world and gives to all participants the opportunity to network, learn and participate among like-minded individuals while sharing or presenting their work.

We are delighted to be once again a community sponsor of this great event. We will be bringing our lockpicking skills and providing a lockpicking station. So while you drink your coffee drop by our table and try your hand at lockpicking and have a chat.

Book your ticket now via the below link

https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/security-bsides-dublin-2022-tickets-192813499367

Update

We had great fun, check out some photos below or in our gallery.