Hackerspacing In Europe: Open Garage In Antwerp

October 22, 2013 by James Hobson 11 Comments

Welcome to Europe’s smallest(?) hackerspace, whose owner, [Anthony Liekens] might just have the biggest heart! This is the Open Garage!

You might remember the recent post about the 3Doodler in the wild. That was done by [Anthony] and his close friend [Deepak]. After we shared his project he contacted us by email, opening an invitation to visit the Open Garage — as it turned out, we were going to be in close proximity to it in Antwerp, Belgium! After visiting Void Warranties, [Anthony] invited us over for a beer and tour of his unique hackerspace…

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Adventures In Hackerspacing: Freeside Atlanta, Part II

October 21, 2013 by Marsh 7 Comments

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This week on Adventures in Hackerspacing, Freeside Atlanta Part II: Hacking the Hackerspace!

After learning about the culture behind the space, I was eager to ask hackerspace veterans [Alan] and [Steven] about nuts and bolts, about behind-the-scenes crucial decisions, and one question in particular: What’s the most important requirement for a hackerspace? [Alan] jumped in with this response:

Number one by and far is a willing landlord. I think if you have a willing landlord everything else is incidental. You make it hard on yourself if you are on the second story, but take the second story if you have a willing landlord.

That wasn’t the answer I was expecting, but when you look around Freeside, it starts to make sense…

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Hackerspacing In Europe: The Garage Lab In Düsseldorf

October 20, 2013 by James Hobson 6 Comments

The Garage Lab (translated) is a small hackerspace quite close to the Chaosdorf. As the name implies, it exists in a garage complex — each unit has a garage and an upstairs office. The Garage Lab shares their unit with a co-working space upstairs — basically, they get the garage at all the times, but only the upstairs on the weekend when it is empty.

It’s been around for about 2 years and has about 40 members (~20 of which are active). To be a member it is quite cheap, only €15/month or €10/month if you are a student. They mostly focus on 3D printing and electronics.

The space has several 3D printers, a large work area, and many hand tools. They run CAD classes quite often and are hoping to expand with 3D printing classes and other technical lectures. Our guide was a cool guy named [Axel] who works as a 3D designer at his own company, but loves spreading 3D printing knowledge with the world.

Check out the tour gallery!

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Hackerspacing In Europe: The Chaosdorf In Düsseldorf

October 20, 2013 by James Hobson 12 Comments

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Today we had the opportunity to visit our very first German Hackerspace — the Chaosdorf in Düsseldorf. They are a member of the much larger organization of the Chaos Computer Club, which is Europe’s largest association of hackers. Mostly focused on all things computer-based, they love tinkering around with Raspberry Pi’s and their very own Makerbot Replicator II.

After a long day of wandering around the trade show, we arrived on the doorstep of the Chaosdorf, and pressed the small green door buzzer… Continue reading “Hackerspacing In Europe: The Chaosdorf In Düsseldorf” →

HHH: CNC Storage Base From The Rabbit Hole

October 18, 2013 by Mike Szczys 18 Comments

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Remember when we announced the Hackaday Hackerspace Henchmen program and asked you to send in the best CNC hacks from your Hackerspace? Well so far this is the only entry, which puts [Mazz] in the top spot to take all the loot for himself. Send in your projects by 10/31/13 if you want a shot at stickers, shirts, and a parts vendor gift card.

What he sent in is a storage cabinet base built for his hackerspace — The Rabbit Hole in Rochester, Minnesota. The group managed to get their hands on a CarveWright CNC machine but didn’t have a spare bench to put it on. The thought of dropping a lot of cash into something wasn’t appealing to them. But as luck would have it, about the same time this arrived at the space one of the members spied a free filing cabinet curbside.

The cabinet was a vertical four-drawer unit. It was chopped in half, with the resulting two-drawer units bolted side-by-side to each other. From here a frame was built to support the cabinets, along with locking casters so that it’s easy to move around. The inaugural run with the new machine/cabinet combination was to mill a sign for the space:

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Tour Of Chicago Hackerspace: Pumping Station One

October 16, 2013 by Todd Harrison 20 Comments

As you may know I was on vacation in Chicago last week. I got a chance to jump on the blue line train from Chicago’s downtown loop for a short trip out to the Addison stop where I caught a quick bus ride over to one of Chicago’s hackerspaces: Pumping Station One. I was given a tour by some camera-shy members that were there when I popped in. The space had a large welding area with lots of equipment, metal lathes, metal brake and woodworking equipment. You name the shop tool, I think it was there. I even think I spotted a functioning scanning electron microscope! WOW!

The lower workspace was quite extensive. Yes, there’s a second-floor having sewing machines, vinyl cutters, 3-D printers and an entire room dedicated to electronics and robotics. Also, they are in the process of expanding to make the space even larger. If you’re in Chicago I recommend you check them out, it’s an amazing space and an easy commute from downtown.

I hope my iPhone video is good enough to show off their splendid space.
Follow along after the break to learn more and get a glimpse inside Pumping Station One.

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Adventures In Hackerspacing: Freeside Atlanta, Part I

October 14, 2013 by Marsh 12 Comments

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The internet is littered with how-to step-by-step guides for starting and maintaining your very own hackerspace. Don’t worry, we’re not adding to the pile. If you want a checklist, Eric Michaud’s got that covered. Adventures in Hackerspacing is different: epic re-tellings, anecdotes, and behind-the-scene stories that fill in the gaps for those fragmented, laundry-list requirements. Here you’ll find nightmare scenarios come to life, clever legal loopholes to save the day, and overhauls that helped a space “click”. Adventures in Hackerspacing has plenty of advice to share, but like every good adventure, it’s about the journey, not the destination.

First up, Freeside Atlanta Part I: Philosophy and Culture.

I sat down with directors [Alan Fay] and [Steven Sutton] on a quiet summer evening to discuss how the space found redemption and success with its philosophy of promoting diversity and embracing humility.

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