News/2011-11-28

< 7th – 13th July 2011

London Hackspace news 14th July – 27th November 2011

General space news

• We had the AGM in August, in which we approved the new constitution, and later elections for trustees.

Discussions

We've had a few very long discussions about space dynamics and how to keep the place comfortable and usable.

Borrowing tools Putting away tools Sleeping in the space Clarification on sleeping Webcams Webcams: an ultimatum Losing the parking permits Securing the parking permits Who can use the parking permits

Clearing the workshop Clearing the workshop Clearing the main room Clearing the balconies Hiring a cleaner Cleaning supplies Cleaning zones Cleaning Cleaning signs Job offer for a cleaner Cleaning your stuff + 1

Cockroaches Getting a cat Bikeshedding Politics/#occupation Learning from each other Guidance for guided tours Filming in the space TV licences Recycling Keeping people up-to-date with the ethos Spaces and mental health Top/bottom posting

News/communication

Robert moved the wiki to match the distinction between London Hackspace and the new UK Hackspaces organisation, and wikified the existing Hackspace site. Both sites are now also available over https, and can only be edited after registration, but still need people to keep them tidy and organised.

In the wake of the Cleaning Threads, Martind added the Maintenance page, and Amran created the 100 Paper Cuts page to make it easier to track small niggling problems.

We're hoping to make news a weekly thing again, in the hope that this will make it easier for members who don't visit all the time to keep up with progress and changes at space. Please help write the next one!

Something that comes up commonly on IRC is that the beer tin is a great way to lose money. Unfortunately, we can't enforce payment for beer (that requires a licence), so members should assume that if they leave beer in the fridge they're giving it away. You should still donate for any beers you take from the fridge, but some people do this so irregularly that the best solution is to have a whip-round to buy beer as a group.

Other spaces

Amran's gone off to help start the Amsterdam hackspace, TechInc (Technologia Incognita)

MattVenn joined the guys in Bristol, who seem to be doing pretty well

Samthetechie helped Brighton move to their new space after the Mini Maker Faire (see below)

Errant's trying to help with robots for the CERN MCC

After a previous abortive attempt, Reading Hackspace are trying again. They need all the help they can get - mailing list twitter

Nottinghack have started a "Hack all the Spaces" podcast, and Dom's visiting London this evening - announcement twitter

We've had people mention starting groups in Swindon, Carmarthen and Medway. These are all very small, so if you're in the area, find out what's going on.

Subgroups

These have ballooned, so there's now a dedicated Subgroups page to bring them together.

• Music Hackspace has grown from a proposal for collecting equipment together to regular Thursday meetups. They have a twitter account and mailing list. Some will be at Music Hackday, as well as a visitor with MIDI tap-dancing shoes.

• There was a Nanode/Pachube workshop. Nanode is also going from strength to strength, with comprehensive guides and list of users and applications on the project page.

• Phil Jones has started a future manufacturing meet-up (3D-printing, CNC, CAD, design)

• After some long evening discussions about a cutting table, Will created a group for knitting/sewing/clothing called London Threads Space [1]. They've made contact with a separate meet-up on soft circuits and wearable technology - mailing list.

• Darren held a "Hacking Hacking" capture-the-flag event, which turned into a workshop. He's planning on holding these [regularly on the third Sunday of each month, and is after some people to help.

• The visionOntv guys have started a weekly "Hack the Media" meet-up on occasional Mondays

• After the cleaner discussion, a Hackspace Job Board was created, and subsequently a Skill Swap page.

• There's a lot of interest in an electronics workshop, but this still hasn't happened yet [2]

• Flux is funding a Kicksat for the space [3] [4]. The main project page is HackSat1. We need to decide on a payload and build a ground station to communicate with it.

• Conveniently enough, a bunch of members took the RSGB foundation course [5] and are working on kitting out our ham radio station. We had to refuse the workshop, but there is clearly an interest in learning how to build amplifiers.

• Gamejams have continued, and The Beast has travelled across London. There was also some whimsical discussion about folk-based games

• Sukey (not directly space, but with common members) has spun out its own communications and is planning for the future

• London Pub Space does what its name suggests [6] [7]

• A meetup to practise BSL was mooted

• DIYBio and Hypnosis continue on Wednesdays

Equipment

We've had long outages of the webcams, people counter and laser cooling system. In response to this, a list of projects at risk has been started, but we're not sure whether this will work.

• The laser cutter cooling system has had serious problems [8][9]. Please don't rely on coolbot - use the IR thermometer instead - and always check the logbook beforehand.
  The cutter itself works best at 60% power, and has been aligned by Mars, Asc and Lbdl - these are currently the best people to speak to if you have a problem. The PC was replaced by Sci, but can still be a bit temperamental.

• The motor on the 3-in-1 lathe has been fixed after much work by Spook and Abby. Be careful with it.

• Hipster fixed the MakerBot and made various improvements, labelling it the "Hipsterbot". He also got the Stratasys working (at last!), and it will happily print for hours in its alcove. It's of course now known as the Hipstasys.

• Artag and Alecjw have cleaned the PCB etching station and prepared new etchant. Abby has done the same.

• Sci organised a pledge for a vacuum pump for the new high vacuum station project.

• The "Dark & wet" room has made progress but stalled lately. It looks like Akki will be reinvigorating it.

• A projector screen has been fixed, and a mount fitted to the ceiling in the quiet room by Phil

• Russ played with and documented the knitting machine

• Take care with the angle grinder
• The sheet metal press has been broken

New equipment

• The Soldering stations from element14 Hackerspace Challenge arrived
• Kal got hold of a brazing hearth and some more welding rods
• Phil has lent a book scanner
• Charles Seber has loaned a scrollsaw - be very careful with it
• Dirk has lent a pulse/signal generator
• Martin King fixed the vice
• He also brought some welding off-cuts and offered a welding class
• Phil and the music hackers have collected a load of equipment on the audio desk
• They also collected some presumed-faulty audio gear
• Sam E has donated us a prototype hifi
• Glen donated some Sugru
• We bought some more shelving for boxes
• We've acquired a fully-documented Mop

Past events

• SamLR organised a trip to RAL
• We had an open day on 24th July
• A number of us went to CCC Camp, leaving the remainder to the start of the riots
• A small band visited the Maunsell Sea Forts at Red Sands
• Brighton Mini Makerfaire was a huge success
• Michael Nielsen gave a talk on Open Science
• Mark Jessop gave a talk on TOPCAT and his high-altitude balloon project while visiting the UK (the flight was a success)
• We had the Bitcoin weekend on 24-25th September, organised by Martind. Members can also get discounted tickets for the European Bitcoin Conference in Prague.
• Meseta also gave a UAV workshop [10]
• There was a screening of the F1 Monza Grand Prix in the quiet room

External:

• A UAV meetup in Guildford UAV meetup
• OSHUG hardware camp at the C4CC

Upcoming events

• Hackspace party some time in January
• "Last Supper" buffet on Tuesday 21st December
• CCC congress (28C3) is between Christmas and New Year
• The UK Hack Camp, Electromagnetic Field, is currently in the planning stages
• The next Arduino course will be some time next year

External:

• London Model Engineering Exhibition 20-22nd January
• Tajasel suggests a go on Segways at Ally Pally some time early in the year
• Sue Black and Dorky stuff http://groups.google.com/group/london-hack-space/browse_thread/thread/f2580c79d04ea788
• Santacon is in early December

Projects

Recently added projects:

• TRTL by Amx109, Jontyw, Hipster: "To produce a low cost kit robot that is simple to build, and easy to use/program via software with the aim of introducing and kids and adults alike to building, making, electronics and software."
• Network Everything, initiated by eb4890: "A project for a hacker event. Where lots of people make small networked devices of their choosing that are put together in interesting ways at the event"
• Combination Lock Box A combination Lock Box with user selectable and modifiable combination lock.
• Nanode Case A 2mm acrylic case cut on a laser cutter for a Nanode
• BigClock Ex-railway LCD display
• Jumbotrons [11] [12]
• There have been numerous plans for the giant phone display
• Another offer of a fusion reactor

• Meanwhile Spaces have an interesting potential for physical projects. Jasper's looking into doing a network visualisation at one
• Jasper's also helping do something interesting with the Caledonian Park clock tower.

• The door control system is now automatically limited to subscribers, and you can manage your details on the website. If you haven't visited the space lately, please check whether your name is on the list of unidentifiable cards. Phil has rebuilt the electronics on a dedicated board.
• Tom W has automated the creation of Glados welcomes [13].

• Solexious has taken orders for the Openlasertag dev kits.

• We finally finished auctioning the servers

See also the #Subgroups above.

SwapShop

Please can members update their items in the SwapShop so that it can become more useful and also please date when you add something.

New items this week:

Media

• The space was featured in an episode of Dragon's Den
• BBC Click On (Radio 4) did a feature on Hackspaces with interviews of members - listen here

Caffeine News

• Sci fixed the coffee machine
• More club mate has arrived
• Watch out for Russ playing with glassware for cold-brewed coffee
• B3cft made an order of BBotE