Tag: repair

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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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Welder repair

An ancient proverb says that power tool failures occur in threes. During the same week that the lathe motor burned out and the compressor wire meltdown has turned it into a scary noise machine, we also had a mysterious malfunction in one of our welders. It didn’t release any smoke, didn’t make weird noises. It just didn’t weld. 0 volts across the output.

Inside of the welder (top view) before the repair attempt. Note that a large number of similar – but not identical – top boards can be found on Aliexpress.

This machine, a small 180A TIG/MMA inverter welder, has recently been repaired. It was not used heavily, as TOG has only so much use for welding. In fact, it was only used by a couple members to practise their welding skills.

On one hand, this machine was 5 year old, has been used extensively in the past and could have been written off as death of old age. The cost of a commercial repair would probably exceed the value of the welder. On the other hand – why not try to repair it ourselves before scrapping it?

Continue reading “Welder repair”

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TOG in the Irish Times

TOG was mentioned in the Irish Times on 10th June 2014: No wasters: how to repair a throwaway culture.

Tog, a collaborative makers’ space or “hackerspace” based in an old warehouse on Chancery Lane in Dublin, will help out at the cafe. Tog shares knowledge and tools in everything from 3D printing to knitting. One of its innovations is the Twitter Knitter, whereby Becky Yates, a software engineer, has repurposed a 45-year-old knitting machine to knit tweets.

Next door to Tog is a marketing company, and Tog members love scavenging from its waste. One find was a quantity of rubber ducks, which have been fashioned into a Duck Matrix display. “We’re terrible for puns in this place,” says Tríona O’Connell, part of Tog and a PhD research scientist at Dublin City University.

Ireland’s second Repair Cafe takes place on June 28, at Christchurch Hall, Sandymount, Dublin 4, 2pm-5pm. Some TOG members have previously helped out with the Repair Cafe.

The Twitter Knitter has been shown at Dublin Mini Maker Faire 2013 and at HACK/CHANGE (photos).