hacklab.to

We’ve booked another fun month of workshops:

Monday April 9th 6-9pm: Stitch and Bitch
Sen and Jammies are planning on holding a Stitch ‘n Bitch on April 9th @ 6PM. For those of you who don’t know what that means, it means we will be having a ‘fabric hacking’ meet-up for sewers, stitchers, fabric-spinners, knitters and all other forms of fabric hacking. Sewing is one of the oldest forms of making and hacking in all of human-kind, so we figured it’d be a great idea to introduce it to Hacklab in a more official way.
Bring your gear or ask someone to share theirs with you! This is a general event and not a tutorial. We’re hoping a good number of people can show up to just talk about and exchange tips on fabric hacking.
This is an open event for Hacklab members and anyone who is interested. :)

Monday April 16: no workshop, members meeting!

Monday April 23 7-9pm: Sculpting Workshop. You must RSVP to attend:
http://hacklab-sculpting.eventbrite.com/
Come learn sculpting from Avinash Hedge, Sculptor. See his work at http://aysculpture.deviantart.com/. He makes amazing superhero sculptures for comic book companies and private clients, and he’s promised to show a small group of hacklabbers his techniques! Workshop will consist of: 20-30 minutes of explanation and demo by Avinash, followed by at least an hour of hands-on work with clay. You will make your own sculpture! Avinash will also answer any and all questions about sculpting!

Monday April 30th 7-9pm: Arduino Total Beginners Workshop
Arduino Beginners Workshop. For total beginners. All are welcome, no RSVP required. Eric will show you how to get started with Arduino, the super-friendly microcontroller platform that even artists love. We’ll cover getting the software installed and going, hooking up the Arduino, and a little bit of basic programming, via explanation of the Examples. You too can cut and paste your way to a working project! You’ll need to bring your own Arduino (any kind will do) and a laptop on which you can install software. Also please bring any cables required to attach your Arduino to your laptop – typically this means an A to B USB cable. If you do not have an Arduino, you can purchase one at Creatron, only a few blocks away from hacklab at 255 College Street.

Monday May 7th 7-9pm: Soldering Workshop #8. You must RSVP to attend:
http://hacklab-soldering8.eventbrite.com/
Want to learn how circuits are assembled? We’ll show you how to solder, the process of using a hot iron to place parts permanently unto circuit boards. Many easy to assemble and cool kits to choose from:
- Stefan’s hacklab blinky ($5)
- TV-be-Gone remote control kit ($20)
- Drawdio ($20)
- MiniPOV Kit ($20)
- Solder: Time watch kit ($30)
Instruction is free, though donation to hacklab is encouraged, of course! If you have your own project or kit, feel free to bring that instead! The instructor is knowledgeable about circuit design, layout and troubleshooting as well, so bring your questions :-)

Apparently I forgot to post this up when I made it, which probably explains why there are still five tickets left! If you want to learn how to solder and you’re still available tomorrow, Monday March 12th, here’s your chance!

On Saturday Feb 11th, I’ll be teaching an Introduction to Python workshop. It will go from 10am to 4pm, with a break for lunch.

Python is a popular programming language, known for its simplicity, ease of use, and elegance. An excellent language to start programming in.

We’ll cover some basic programming concepts. What that will include will depend on how fast we go :)

Please RSVP — we have limited space!

Hacklab is pleased to announce more workshops for February: a learn how to solder workshop on Monday Feb 6th (RVSP at eventbrite), and an Arduino workshop on Monday Feb 20th. The soldering workshop will be taught by Sen of Strich Labs, and the Arduino workshop will be taught by Alaina. More details about Arduino workshop to follow as the date gets closer.

All workshops are open to the public (you do not have to be a member of hacklab to attend) and happen from 7pm to 9pm.

Ever wanted to copy a three dimensional shape? Molding and casting allows you to copy nearly anything – from hands and fingers to toys and sculptures. This beginners workshop (led by relative novices too), will provide you with hands-on exposure to simple molding and casting.

As this workshop, you will:
- be provided with materials for both molding and casting
- make a mold of your thumb or finger
- mix your casting material, and then use your mold to create a solid copy- take it home!

Here’s some sample casts I took a few weeks ago with the materials that we’ll be using:

This workshop will be hosted by hacklab.to, at 170a Baldwin St., Toronto (which is upstairs, above Graffiti’s Bar & Grill) on the evening of January 9th 7pm-8:15pm. Workshop participants will be charged $10 to cover the costs of materials.

Event registration is required. Tickets (12 only) are available at:

http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2640745541

Monday January 16th, 23rd and 30th: three weeks of basic electronics classes, 7pm-9pm.

The Basic Electronics Class is designed to help Arduino hackers and beginner electronics enthusiasts learn some of the important theory and terminology that everyone needs to know. The first set of three classes will attempt to cover as many fundamentals as possible. If you’re confused by ohms law, how to choose and use basic components, or even what basic electronic components are used for, this is the class for you!

Bring general electronics questions, or project ideas as the second half of each class will be an open discussion about electronics topics.

The class will be taught by Andrew Kilpatrick. Andrew has designed all kinds of electronics including his own line of musical equipment: www.kilpatrickaudio.com Andrew has been involved with Hacklab Toronto since 2008.

Update: Due to overwhelming demand, we’re now requiring RSVP/tickets: Hacklab Electronics Class at Eventbrite. Get yours while they last!

On Monday May 16th, 19-21:00, I’ll be doing an introduction to transfinite numbers. Topics will include:

• Cardinals and Ordinals
• Cantor’s Diagonalization Argument
• The Continuum Hypothesis
• Transfinite Induction

Transfinite numbers are really cool, since, well they deal with infinity, don’t match your intuition’s about infinity, and have a tendency to drive people insane!

Unlike previous math workshops, there is no prerequisite knowledge for this workshop. It should be lots of fun! I hope to see you there.

We had a great turnout at Andrew’s LED workshop. It was attended by regular Hacklab members and some new faces who were visiting the lab for the first time.

Andrew discussed the basics of how semiconductors and diodes behave, and how to calculate the related currents and voltages in the circuit. He showed to drive low-power LEDs simply with a current-limiting resistor, and the limitations of that design. He went on to show a circuit for an active constant-current method of driving high power LEDs, and demonstrated various models in LTSpice.

Thanks to everyone who attended the workshop, and thanks to Andrew for presenting it! Watch this blog (and our @hacklabto Twitter) for notices of future electronics and craft workshops at the Hacklab.

Unfortunately Andrew has to reschedule the LED workshop, so it will NOT be held tomorrow! It will be held on Sunday, August 8 at 14:00 instead. Update your calendars!