Category: Repair

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From the Dead to the Dancefloor – Quickshot Studio 4 Revived!

Sometimes, the best sessions are the ones you don’t plan.

During a recent open evening at Tog Hackerspace, a visitor walked in carrying a curious bit of vintage tech – a Quickshot Studio 4 Sound Mixing System from the 1980s. Sadly, it had seen better days and showed no signs of life. But its retro charm and potential to make funky noises quickly captured the imagination of everyone in the room.

Within minutes, a team of members and visitors formed around the mystery machine. Tools came out, screws were undone, and curiosity led the charge. Once opened up, the source of the silence became clearer – the wire to the battery compartment had failed, and the switch for toggling between the 6V adapter and battery power had also given up.

So, what to do?

The owner casually mentioned, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could convert it to USB-C?” Well, challenge accepted.

First, we needed to see if the system would even work with a slightly lower voltage. We hooked it up to an adjustable power supply, dialed in 5V, and… it worked beautifully! That was all the encouragement we needed.

Luckily, visitor Gary had a spare USB-C power module and breakout board from a previous project. Ambrose unearthed a Dremel for a bit of tasteful case modification, making space for the sleek new power port. Rod (yes, that Rod from YouTube!) took on the soldering duties with the steady hand of a seasoned pro. The rest of us stood by in awe, offering encouragement, jokes, and possibly questionable advice.

And just like that, the Quickshot Studio 4 was alive again – now powered by modern USB-C and belting out bleepy ’80s goodness. The room was filled with sound and smiles. Everyone was delighted, especially the original owner, who left with a working piece of musical history… and a great story to tell.

If you’re into repairs, love solving problems, or just want to be part of spontaneous hacker magic like this, why not come along to one of our Repair Cafés or get in touch about becoming a fixer? You never know what will walk through the door next.

👉 See more photos from this repair session and others in our Tog Gallery

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April 2025 Repair Cafe

Bring your broken gadgets and gizmos to get them fixed by skilled volunteers at TOG Hackerspace!
Save your things from the landfill and your wallet from having to replace them.

Join us in Tog on Saturday, the 19th of April, from 2 pm – 6 pm.

What objects can you bring in?

  • Clothes and accessories
  • Toys
  • Small electrical appliances and electronics
  • Small furniture
    … and many other things!

Safety testing (PAT) for electrical devices will be available.

Whether it’s a wonky toaster or a glitchy switch, our experienced volunteers are here to help. No need to throw things away when they can be fixed! Swing by with your items and let’s get them back in working order together. 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!

See you there!

Where? – Unit 1B Motor City, Kylemore Road, Dublin 12, D12 CF6V
When? – Saturday, April 19th, 2 pm – 6 pm
Admission is free – but book a ticket so we can plan numbers – all are welcome!

https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/repair-cafe-tickets-1277906194829?aff=oddtdtcreator

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

This event is supported and run in partnership with Dublin Maker. A free-to-attend, community-run event, which will be held in August each year

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Green Week: Repair Cafe

Tog Hackerspace is teaming up with Trinity College Dublin (TCD) for a special Green Week Repair Café! Bring your broken items—electronics, appliances, furniture, clothing—and our skilled volunteers will help you fix them while sharing valuable repair skills.

📅 Date & Time: 12th of March from 12:00 – 14:00.
📍 Location: Atrium, Trinity College Dublin
🔗 More details: Event website

Let’s reduce waste, learn new skills, and build a culture of repair. See you there!

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Fingal Makerspace Repair Cafe

We are teaming up with Fingal Makerspace and Make Create Innovate to host a Repair Cafe in Blanchardstown. The aim is to bring together skilled volunteers and community members who want to repair their broken household items.

Our passionate team of skilled volunteers will be on hand to help you fix everything from electronics and appliances to furniture and clothing, all while sharing valuable repair skills and promoting a sustainable lifestyle.

At the Repair Café , you can:

  • Learn essential repair techniques from our expert makers and volunteers
  • Discover the joy of fixing things and reducing waste in a collaborative, community-focused environment
  • Connect with like-minded individuals who are passionate about sustainability and the maker movement

So grab your broken treasures and join us for a day of mending, learning, and connection at Fingal Makerspace Repair Café. Together, we can build a more sustainable future and celebrate the power of repair!

Date: Saturday 29th March 2025

Time: 11 am – 3 pm

Location: Fingal Makerspace

More info & Tickets : https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/fingal-makerspace-repair-cafe-all-ages-tickets-1249306582619?aff=ebdsoporgprofile

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Ebike BMS Upgrade

An ebike battery from 2012 has given great service, but the balancing of some individual cells in this 16S Lithium Iron Phosphate battery started to take much longer than others. Eventually, some cells would not balance at all. Each cell has its own “channel” on the battery management system (BMS). A red LED on the BMS should illuminate when the cell comes up to full charge.

On closer examination, some of the sense wires to individual cells were found to have become disconnected. These were resoldered which brought some improvement, but still balancing was not happening consistently. Some damage and corrosion on the BMS circuit board was then found. In the world of ebikes, things have moved on quite a bit since 2012. So it was decided to replace the stock BMS with an up-to-date Bluetooth enabled one.

A “JK” BMS was chosen, which seems to be a popular brand from various online forums. The one page “manual” that came with the BMS isn’t the best, and would probably get a “could do better” if it was a school or college project. Thankfully, with a bit of help from a number of YouTube channels, the BMS was fitted ok and started up. With the matching smartphone app installed, it’s cool to see all the individual cell voltages in real time and the balancing happening before your eyes.

If you’d like to see these kinds of fixes and mods that we get up to, drop in to our Monday night Electronics or Tuesday Open House.
 

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Another Repair Café Fix

We’re no stranger to Repair Cafés  here at TOG, having just run our biggest one ever in January. Repair Cafés are events where volunteers try to fix stuff to keep it in-service and out of landfill. We had about 90 fixes attempted on the day with much success, thanks to a fantastic pool of fixers. You can read about it in the Irish Times.

This particular fix was a simple one, but we also decided to upgrade the power socket to USB-C. A rechargeable work light from ALDI had become intermittent in charging. The charging socket (micro USB) seemed sensitive to touch. Some of the tiny surface mount pins on the charging socket circuit board had failed. These proved quite difficult to re-solder, even with our best hot air kit.

Checking the usual Chinese websites, there are many kinds of USB-C plugs and sockets available. We bought 3 types…. some chassis mounting ones, some on a small PCB similar to the original one, and some plain vanilla ones with just 2 flying leads. We decided to use the plain one. With a bit of enlarging of the hole to make it fit, and some 2-part epoxy, the new USB-C socket is now in place and connected up. These have just a red and a black wire so it’s just 5V, but that’s fine for this application.

Talking afterwards, most of the gadgets and gizmos that we’ve made at TOG have traditionally used some kind of barrel plug for 5V or 12V. Since USB-C is now the in-thing, it’s easy to use it for new projects. Drop in to our regular Monday night Electronics or Tuesday night Open House to see this and much more.

If you need something repaired come along to our upcoming repair cafes.

Fingal Makerspace, Blanchardstown Library 29th March 2025

Tog Hackerspace, 19th April 2025