RepRap 3D Printer Projects

Posted on December 7, 2010 by admin

What if you could build a machine which can build a copy of it’s self? The RepRap project is aiming for just that. But what is it?

The current version of the RepRap is a rapid prototyping 3D printer which can be built from fairly inexpensive components. This 3D printer creates physical 3D models from digital models, allowing you to download and share schematics of many useful objects.

This video from RepRap.org explains it all:

RepRap from Adrian Bowyer on Vimeo.

Some of us from Leeds Hackspace want to construct a RepRap to create components both for further RepRap machines and for other projects such as Pingball (just imagine if other hacker spaces could print out identical kits for their own pinball machines!).

To join in with this project just turn up to a Tuesday evening meeting and discuss it with others.

Other hacker spaces have their own 3D printer projects, such as London’s Makerbot. For inspiration though, look no further than Copenhagen’s Labitat – they have made phenomenal progress on their own RepRap projects in the past year and provide some excellent RepRap resources.

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It Wouldn’t Be A Hackspace Without Robots

Posted on November 22, 2010 by admin

Here’s another video for you all from last Tuesday: some elegant robotic artistry (or “what happens when you strap a marker to a robot and put it on a whiteboard”).

Bot 1 – Is it art? from leedshackspace on Vimeo.

This time courtesy of our resident mapping and robotics geek, Nav. He’s been busy tweaking his robot every week, making it perform ever-more nifty tasks. In the past few months we’ve seen it trace lines, bump into things, and even trace lines THEN bump into things.

He’s also given it infra-red eyes so it can map it’s own environment. It faces obstacles with a rotatable distance sensor mounted on the front and the obligatory superfluous laser.

If you want to know more about this bot, he’s been documenting it on the wiki. Or you can come along on Tuesday evenings or Saturdays to see it in action and build your own.

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Video – Playing Axel F through a HDD

Posted on November 17, 2010 by admin

We have a couple of videos from last night’s hack evening showing what a few of us have created.

Our resident laser expert was experimenting with controlling a hard drive needle via an Arduino (combine a couple of these with mirrors and you theoretically have a laser projector!). He made the needle vibrate at a pitch the rest of us could hear, when Nav (of Navbot fame) “had an idea”.

We took a video of this “idea” so the rest of you could be equally irritated by this iconic, repetitive 1980s riff. For full Leeds Hack Space effect, play the video on repeat 50 times to give you an idea of what the rest of us put up with last night.

Axel F on a hard drive needle from leedshackspace on Vimeo.

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Leeds Hack Space on Outriders, BBC 5 Live

Posted on November 9, 2010 by admin

A fortnight ago we had a visit from Andrew Back, complete with camera, microphone and a remit from BBC 5 Live show Outriders to get an idea of what happens at Leeds Hackspace.

The show is now live, available for 30 days as a podcast (until 09th December 2010) at BBC Outriders website.

Also featured on the show are friend of LHS and Arduino hobbyist store Oomlout and purveyors of Shelves Of Random Things, Scrapstuff.

Let us know what you think!

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Arduino fun at GeekUp Leeds and beyond

Posted on September 15, 2010 by admin

Tonight is the monthly local techie meet-up GeekUp Leeds. There’ll be a talk by Gareth Halfacree on the most popular programmable microcontroller: the Arduino. An Arduino is a programmable chip which makes it really easy to consume input from electronic sensors, process the data and spit out commands to anything from LEDs to servo motors or wireless controllers. It’s used by hobbyists and artists to create many things, from building swarming robots to controlling lights on grand art installations.

Leeds Hackspace has members who know plenty about Arduino and electronics, and we’ve got the kit for newbies to have a go themselves!

Our inventory available to members is growing by the week, and we currently have 4 arduino boards for people to play around with, as well as other similar programmable microcontrollers, fully configured PCs and plenty of components – not to mention a workshop with power tools if you want to create larger (and more dangerous) things.

So if tonight’s talk at GeekUp piques your interest, or if you missed it and want to know more you should come along to the meetings (every Tuesday night at the space) or keep an eye out when we’re open other days and try your hand at building something.

Bot I – Lines and Bumpers from leedshackspace on Vimeo.

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Saturday 22nd May – Geek Barbecue!

Posted on May 20, 2010 by admin

We’ll be at the space in Holbeck from 10am until late on Saturday building robots in the lab and hitting things with hammers in the workshop. Furthermore, because the weather is forecast to be glorious we’re going to be cooking up some grub in the afternoon using a makeshift barbecue. Expect burning things to commence around 3pm.

Some of us will gather food and drink beforehand, but we encourage you to bring more (we have no idea how many people might turn up).

See you on Saturday!

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Project: Bot 1

Posted on May 10, 2010 by admin

Nav was busy face-down in code and components this weekend crafting the first of many Leeds Hack Space robots. Check out the progress!

The robot uses an Arduino to process input from the strip of phototransistors across the front to sense the black line. It uses two servos with rubber tyres for precise movement. The intention is to use the robot’s design as a template for other people to pursue similar projects, mounting all sorts of other sensors and customisation for their own robots.

Nav says the next step is to add bumpers and to free itself from the oppressive line-following lifestyle and roam across the vast expanse of the entire desk.

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Leeds Hackspace at BettaKultcha2

Posted on May 6, 2010 by admin

The slides are up from a recent short presentation at BettaKultcha 2.

Hosted in Temple Works, BettaKultcha is a cultural event full of short talks from people active in the Leeds community. The second event was very interesting indeed. Of all similar events I have attended, this was the first to look beyond technology at the wider cultural landscape of Leeds.

I talked about Leeds Hackspace, how we had converted extreme enthusiasm and small amounts of cash into what we have now – an awesome space in Leeds with a whole bundle of potential. Check it out!

Leeds Hackspace – 1 year on

This talk, and LHS in general, was very well received at BettaKultcha 2. In particular by the newly reformed Leeds Savages. The Savages have rekindled a colourful and flamboyant society of artists and writers which has been dormant for almost a century. What’s more, they want to see what LHS get up to in the name of art and curiosity. Fancy a free-for-all art open day, anyone?

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Important Announcement- Our First Space!

Posted on March 9, 2010 by admin

One year on… we have a space!

11 months ago a message was sent to the GeekUp mailing list:

“For some time now Leeds has been in need of a proper hacker space. The number of hacking groups has increased significantly over recent years with meetings like GeekUp and opencoffee. In the last few months hackspaces have began forming around the UK in London, Birmingham and the North West…”

There was a real groundswell of support from the Leeds tech community. With fund raising from events and general persistence from our members we’ve formed a cohesive organisation and raised enough to fund our first venue. Whilst it isn’t huge or central it is definitely affordable and perfect for hacking, making, crafting and sciencing.

Allow me to introduce to you Leeds’ new hack space!

Venue

The venue is a two-storey office/workshop unit located in Holbeck toward Elland Road with (limited) parking space and easy access by bus and car. The ground floor is an open plan double garage which is more than big enough to house vehicles, work benches and life-sized robots. Upstairs we have office space enough for desks, servers, white boards and bean bags, as well as kitchen and WC facilities.

Location & Access

Cleveleys Street
Holbeck
LS11 0AF

It’s a short bus ride on the 51, 61, 64A, 74A, or 254 from town (Vicar Lane), and you want to be getting off at Holbeck Top Moor Side.

View of the space 1
View of the space 2
Workshop (before the tidy)
Office

Next steps

Whilst we have been able to afford the deposit and have some kit in storage, the hack space group still needs your help to prepare and maintain the venue. We welcome all donations of cash, furniture, tools and materials. Please get in touch if you are able to help. Now that our bank is setting up an account for us we will soon be able to start takingdonations and recurring membership fees directly. The fees will be discussed at the next hack space meet-ups, so if you have an opinion then please be in attendance or contact us directly via email or the mailing list to have your voice heard.

Access and events

It has always been our intention to host events at the space. For now we will hold small workshops, skill sharing sessions and open days. We will make use of the space as much as possible, with events and access to be arranged by hack space members.

Ambitions

We don’t just have a venue now. We also have a plan…

1. Get creating

We have a venue. We have an group of brilliant and enthusiastic makers. Now all we need is the kit and then we will run workshops and pursue interesting projects. We have no shortage of project ideas and curious hackers, so this summer will be all about no-holds-barred making and hacking.

2. Get promoting

This venue is nothing without it’s members. We want to encourage more people to join in, and what better way to do this than showcasing what we do? We will:

  • revamp the website into a more cohesive community portal
  • take time to showcase our projects at events and online
  • encourage healthy rivalry with other hacker spaces elsewhere in the UK and throughout the world

3. Get bigger
We’re not being complacent. We’re already planning for a second space where we can do more things. Leeds’ geek/tech community is huge and growing, but with limited venues of any use. With increased interest, larger membership and deeper pockets we intend to host a city centre venue within 2 years which will cater perfectly for co-working and community events.

So we encourage you all to get involved. Come along to meetings, visit the space, get enthusiastic and make things.

It’s going to be an amazing summer :D

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Announcing LHS HackDay! Saturday, October 10th 2009

Posted on September 25, 2009 by admin

Saturday 10th October 2009
Old Broadcasting House, Leeds, LS2 9EN

Leeds Hack Space brings you a day of challenges, workshops, talks and tomfoolery for hackers, makers and coders in Leeds.

Junk Heap Challenge

Bring in your old electronics, toys and hardware for everyone to mess about with. We’ll be setting a Scrapheap-style challenge for teams to create a mad contraption out of your old kit over the course of the event. This contest is open to anyone – we’ll be organising teams on the day.

Micro-controller Workshop

We’ll dedicate a room to the hardware hackers amongst you. There’ll be everything you need to play about with embedded devices such as the Arduino.

OpenLeeds Code-athon

To give the ambitious and excellent OpenLeeds project a kick start we’ll be hosting a day of collaboration for anyone to chip in with their skills. We’re looking for coders, designers and anyone with an interest to help construct a truly open resource for Leeds’ historical and geographical information.

Lightning Talks

If you think you can talk for 10 minutes on a subject you want everyone to know about then you’re more than welcome to take part! We’ll be providing space and a captive audience to give you the chance to shout about awesome and interesting things. We’ll be organising the talks for the morning, ‘unconference’ style so just turn up prepared.

Registration

The event will be free to attend and will kick off at 10am on Saturday 10th October, running until about 6pm. We will provide a buffet lunch and (non-alcoholic) drinks.Go to the Eventbrite page to confirm your ticket – http://lhshackday.eventbrite.com/

We’re keeping the running costs low thanks to the venue from NTI Leeds, but any donations toward the running costs would be welcome on the day, or by visiting the Leeds Hack Space donations page.

For further discussion around the HS HackDay visit the Leeds Hack Space mailing list, or check out the wiki for up-to-date information.

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