Oh wow, you folks really want to be back in the space! With the good weather we had a dozen members and 5 unprompted guests at the lab today, making this evening a soft-open! So while we’re still rough around the edges, we happily welcome folks back to our public open houses!

Glimps at DIYBIO

Hacklab has been hosting our friends DIYBIO for a while now. And with their presence a great symbiotic relationship has developed between the two groups. DIYBIO has a  bio lab in the Hacklab  space that has grown to a place where they can start running experiments.  The photo gallery below shows one of the experiments recently conducted. For more information on DIYBIO visit their website at DIYBIO.to. As well as visit Hacklab on Tuesdays for our open house to talk to some of the DIYBIO people in person. 

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Hacklab is open to the public every Tuesday night!  Doors are open from from around 6pm until late. Come show off your projects, make something awesome, just chill out with other geeks!

Joseph brought in his Oculus Rift for people to try:

Alex ran a demonstration of CNC embroidery:

And created this neat shirt! (YOU SHOULD BUY THIS! All proceeds are donated to hacklab!)

Misha’s demonstrated his new display:

Hey everyone!

We get asked every now and again if we could host weekend open-houses for those of you who can’t make it out to our Tuesday Open-House nights. Well, your dreams have come true!

Hacklab will be hosting a weekend Open-House on Saturday December 6, starting at 2pm and going until at least 6pm (but likely later). Come bring your curiosity, neat projects, your weird and crazy ideas and your awesome selves.  As always, our open-house is at 1266 Queen Street West, Unit 6.  Buzz our unit number at the door to be let in.

Also, there will be free vegan food! Show up for some noms, stay for the blinking LED’s!

Any questions about this event can be directed to us via the Contact page.

Hope to see you there.  Happy hacking!

Alex will be demonstrating his CNC embroidery system this Tuesday!

Hacklab is open to the public every Tuesday night!  Doors are open from from around 6pm until late. Come show off your projects, make something awesome, just chill out with other geeks!

Hacklab has moved!

Come visit us at Hacklab 2.0, now located in Parkdale! (1266 Queen Street West) We’re open every Tuesday night (Including this Sept 30!)

New lab!

Hacklab’s new classroom and large hacking area

More photos of the process here.

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Todays post is not quite what you think it is about, but the chosen title will make more sense as you read along. Hacklab has been around for a while on the maker/hacker/creator/incubator scene and could be seen as one of the original terminals that now make up part of the Mesh network that is our community in Toronto.  As I have witnessed over the few years I have been visiting, making, and working within the community. I have seen how those who come to explore discover us or other parts of the community, and bounce around absorbing and finding the right fit. Many times those who are new to the community or those who are well versed in the community, have multiple links to the Mesh network by frequenting many of the other spaces beyond Hacklab’s walls. This is where I should note at times Hacklab has played host to other new groups in the community, be it the Haskell Users group, or the occasional DIY Bio group.  I hope that Hacklab and other spaces in the community will play host to other groups that will ever increase the diversity of the community Mesh. The cross talk between each space informs one another through the sharing of ideas and others being partially mixed into others creating a noise of ideas and thought, spawning new projects that use the resources available at times of multiple spaces, and memberships.      To get a better idea of the diverse community that has flourished within Toronto, I would like to draw your attention to a side project entitled Hacking-the-city, of mine that has been slowly creating an larger picture of the community, and those which influence and flow into others within the Hacker community.  I have used pinterest simply to keep it semi organized and to attempt to create a visual idea of the community, as well as small description of the organization. If you as the reader can think of an organization, group, or other part of the community that I have not mentioned please tell me so I can pin them to the board. Cross talk may take some time to get really going, the intention is to visit other spaces with members of the community that frequent the lab and to get a sense of the other parts of the community threw photography. This I envision being a little difficult and taking time due to how does one accurately depict a community, or project via a lens. This is a constant challenge at Hacklab due to some projects are not easily conveyed. How does one take a photo of someone programming and convey what it is they are doing, or what the program is? To stage a photo or to shoot candid, which method is the more truthful and accurate? I look forward to this project and hope to share what I capture with you all soon. This past weekend the folks at The Ultimate Workshop, played host to some Hacklab members to work on a joint project.  See below for a sneak peak at an upcoming blog post on the Retropopulator.

Hardwood pedal.

Out of necessity one of Hacklab’s members had to replace his pedal due to it literally falling apart leaving a stub, if he did not he would not make it to open house in time.
The new pedals that where picked up were the wrong size, so the only logical thing to do was to build a replacement pedal seeing as the stub of the former pedal was still good.
The new pedal functions fairly well but will need to be replaced or reworked for a smoother usage, and needs a little oil. The final pedal has been finished off with a coating of linseed oil that has been rubbed into it.

Drink Mixer at your service.

Recently one of our members decided that he would create a personal bartender in a form of a Droid bartender. This handy piece of equipment is functional and makes a great conversation piece. The bar bot is named Luma-Droid and mixes some mean drinks. Not all of these drink need to be alcohol, I am sure this Droid can can mix a mean punch as well. This handy Droid uses 4 different liquid sources to mix from 6 different drinks pre-determined  programmed and dispenses at a push of one of the illuminated buttons. This is actually the second version of this little Droid. The first version did not have the ultra sonic humidifier that creates a further finished and polished look. But not every improvement is merely aesthetic. Many times when creating a project that delves into areas that is a first for anyone,  creates problems and a list of things you would do differently if provided a chance. Well Eric had the chance and in the second version shown in the photos, the ultrasonic humidifier was added, as well as new pumps, reservoir for the humidifier, and for good measure a extra layer of sealing to ensure the water proofing.

Trouble shooting

Problem found and fixed.

Victory, it works!

Initial start up.

Close up.

Testing the ultra sonic humidifier.

Up and running. Look at the RGB LED strips go.

Several Months ago, a class mate approached me regarding a class assignment.
This is not an unusual for students to do to each other, but the subject was lasers and cutting services and where to find them.
I provided her with a few resources, and also mentioned work had one.
One thing lead to another and Several weeks later I received some Cad drawings to process for laser cutting.
The project that I assisted her with was a tailoring assignment, cutting fabric for various embellishments.
I do have to note that some photos have been cropped down to a quarter of the original size due to respecting her intellectual property, and artistic property.

Cutting of test patterns on fabric to see how it would react.

Process of cutting the fabric with wet paper towel over top to prevent flame ups.

Cutting of the fabric in some cases took enough time to begin to dry out the paper towel.

Problems arise when the paper towel becomes completely dry. The possibility of flame ups in this case is increased.

Fabric being cut without paper towel.

Cut design mounted.

Cut fabric layered over a second fabric.