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).

Also a brief reminder: we’ve started taking membership fees, as detailed in this blog post. Not mandatory for Saturday, but regular attendees and supporters are encouraged to help with funds.

See you on Saturday!

Greetings Hacker Spacers,

As you are aware, we have a space. Wonderful as that is it does come with some drawbacks, namely: bills.

So if you’re a regular attendee and don’t already contribute toward the fees, we encourage you to give us a bit of wonga. We’ve notionally agreed on a £25/month membership to start with, but this will hopefully reduce over time. If you only drop in occasionally and think £25 is too much then give us what you feel is right – we’d encourage a £5 donation per visit for irregular attendees. If you just think that Leeds having a hackspace is a fantastic idea and you’d like to keep the dream alive with a one-off cash donation or to contribute kit (something with lasers, perhaps?), we’re not going to stop you – you may even get a robot named after you*.

The space is funded and run by all of us, so what do we get for our cash?

Tools and equipment: We’re not short of these. Desks, soldering irons, Lego Mindstorms, spare components, servers and a vast array of power tools are on hand in the office and the workshop, as contributed and shared by members.

Space and time: We’ve had people there every weekend, as well as regular meets every other Tuesday. We’ve got a number of sets of keys, so if you want access any other time, just let us know. Hey, if you’re a regular attendee we may even give you your own set of keys to open up whenever you want!

Projects: We’ve got a whole slew of project ideas on the wiki. Robots, steam engines, a 3D printer, or a Rube goldberg machine – they’re all within our grasp. Let’s get together and start building stuff, shall we?

We all want to support Leeds Hackspace. We need your ideas, your time and a small amount of your money.
See our donation page for details. Standing orders would be ideal, but one-off donations are also very welcome. Make sure you include some identifying mark in the transaction so we know who to thank.

Many thanks in advance.

The Leeds Hackspace Team

*As long as your name is Killbot-3000, or Coffeetron

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 it’s self from the oppressive line-following lifestyle and roam across the vast expanse of the entire desk.

For more information including components and progress, check the Navbot project page on our wiki.

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 Hack Space, 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!

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?

One year on… we have a space!
11 months ago a message was sent to the GeekUp [1] 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