iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Today East Essex Hackspace celebrated its 8th birthday! 🎂🔥 We started with a handful of people in a Scout hut. Now we’re a community of nearly 400 members, and the Pavilion has been our home for almost six years. So naturally, we lit the cake with a MAP gas blowtorch. Happy birthday, EEH! 🎉

154

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

🏁 THE VELOCIRACER LIVES! 🦖⚡ Iain made it to the final Hacky Racers event of the year to challenge for the Scrumpy Cup! One burnt motor driver, one dead welder and a LOT of last-minute help later, the Velociracer has even been stretch limo-fied for better cornering. 😂 #HackyRacers #Hackspace

020

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Think you couldn't build something like this? Nobody starts knowing everything. At East Essex Hackspace, you learn by building, testing, breaking things, fixing them and asking the person next to you. Come and see us Tuesdays from 7:30pm. Tours at 8pm.

142

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

It's Tuesday so it's Social/Open Night at the Hackspace today, come along from 19:30 to have a look around. If you would like a formal safety induction and to join up we start those at 20:00 and it takes about an hour.

A view of the Hackspace from the car park. The grass is very brown and dry.

000

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

⚡ What does 35,000 volts do to a Haribo bear? We found out. One of our members built the Cockcroft Walton Multiplier kit from @ExtKits@mstdn.social — an electronic Van de Graaff, all through-hole soldering, very beginner-friendly. Follow, Like & Share so more people find out about the space!

020

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

001

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

From a flat sheet of copper to a hand-made bowl. 🔨🥣 While East Essex Hackspace was out in force at #EMF2026, I managed to grab a place on a coppersmithing workshop with Urban Crafts Foundation. #HeritageCrafts #CopperSmithing #Maker #Metalworking #Craftsmanship

0125

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

It's Tuesday Night so it's Social/Open Night at the Hackspace today from 19:30. If you're looking for a joining induction we do those at 20:00. This week's excitement is that the Council installed new bins in the park outside!

A view of the Hackspace on a sunny June day. The Council have installed new bins right by the path.

011

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Tuesday night means it's Social Night at the Hackspace from 19:30. Inductions at 20:00 if you're thinking of joining.

A picture of the Hackspace with the door open. The grass is greening up nicely and the tree in full leaf.

010

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

Tuesday night means it's open/social night at the Hackspace from 19:30. If you're interested in joining we do inductions at 20:00, please be on time as it takes about an hour we don't restart.

A picture of the Hackspace on a warm but windy day. The leaves are coming back on the trees now.

010

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

We're running a Repair Café 10:00-13:00 today at the Hackspace.

A close view of the Hackspace with one of our flags planted outside.

093

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

🎉 Welcome Sandrina, our newest Trustee! She joined via a repair café, got hooked, and now builds robots and gets stuck in across the whole space. Usually in Tues/Weds, go say hello 👋

020

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

It's Tuesday so that means it's social/open night from 19:30 today. If you'd like to be inducted to join we'll start this at 20:00 and it takes about an hour, don't be late as we don't restart inductions.

A view of the Hackspace on a sunny spring day.

000

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

It's Tuesday so that means it's social/open night from 19:30 today. Also, exciting news there's a tractor out mowing the sports field! If you'd like to be inducted to join we'll start this at 20:00 and it takes about an hour, don't be late as we don't restart inductions.

A view of the Hackspace with a big orange tractor towing a mower attachment in the right of the frame.

000

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

A quiet way to remember someone special. Local boy Henry Hall was just 6 when he passed away. For what would have been his 8th birthday, a tree has been planted at Hawkwell with a custom plaque. A small, lasting tribute made with care. 🌈🌳 #HenryHall #InMemory #TreePlanting #Memorial #UKMakers

010

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

It's Tuesday so that means it's Social/Open Night at the Hackspace from 19:30. If you're looking to join then inductions will start at 20:00 and last about an hour. Please be on time for induction as we don't restart them if somebody's 15 minutes late.

A view of the Hackspace on a dull March day.

011

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

While members were representing the Hackspace at a District Council meeting last night, some work got done on our long-running shared Hacky Racer project. This is testing the 'state machine' for safe operation and differential mixing of the two drive motors when steering.

010

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Tuesday night means Social Night from 19:30 at EEH but It'll be a quiet one as many members and Trustees are off to a District Council meeting where they are debating our bid for bigger premises. There will be at least one person around though if you'd like a tour/induction.

A view of the Hackspace on a bright March day. The trees are just starting to come back to life but the field is still very muddy.

000

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 14/03/2026

We were out on Hockley High Street promoting the Hackspace today. Not huge footfall given it was a sunny Saturday but we still managed to talk to lots of people who showed interest in what we do.

Some Hackspace clutter set out on tables. There's an "arcade machine" running RetroPie, an Antweight fighting robot arena with several bots, a 3D printer, our traffic light game and various random objects made at the Hackspace.

001

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

Member Iain was getting familiar with our Cricut last night. He has plans to build up a design using many layers of leather into a 3D relief. This will also involve using our 3D scanner to scan the original object. The Cricut did really well with the 1mm leather he tried.

A piece of leather with the name "Iain" cut out of it. The leather and the resulting letters are on the tacky backing sheet used by the Cricut.

000

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

It's Tuesday so Social Night at the Hackspace from 19:30 and potentially safety inductions from 20:00 if you're looking to join up. Pop down and see what we get up to.

A picture of the Hackspace on a slightly dull day.

000

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

The result of a bit more turning and polishing. Stuart is experimenting with the mix in the resin and this has mica powder in to make it swirly and sparkling. There's a little too much as it's reduced visibility too far so he's going to change the mix and try another piece.

A 'teardrop' shaped piece of mixed burr wood and resin. You can see sparkling whorls withing the resin.

010

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Member Stuart is experimenting with turning wood/resin "eggs" on the lathe today. This has wood placed in a 3D printed mould of roughly the right shape, filled with resin then turned down removing the mould. This apparently saves a lot of resin, which is much more expensive than 3D printer filament.

Stuart turning the "egg" on the lathe. He is wearing an impressive positive pressure face mask.

110

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Spring appears to be springing in Hawkwell and tonight it's also the Hackspace AGM from 20:00. Note this means there won't be time for the usual member general inductions.

000

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

This worked out good in the end after a bunch of struggling with tiny ribbon cables.

The Macbook with replaced screen booting for the first time. The protective film and stickers are still on the screen.

000

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

Member Sunel has been busy creating this beautiful fused glass art at the Hackspace. The glass pieces were cut on our Wazer waterjet into intricate shapes that would be incredibly difficult by hand. They were then arranged and kiln fused to create these vibrant designs full of colour and light.

A circular piece of glass art showing tall blades of grass with a stylised dragonfly and butterflies above. Nestled in the grass is a ladybird.

A circular piece of glass art showing a tall daisy-like flower with tiny bees buzzing around it.

041

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

One thing that is going in is a couple of members are replacing the smashed screen of a MacBook. It's a fiddly process and may take them a while.

Two people balancing a MacBook so they can undo fasteners and remove tiny ribbon cables.

100

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

It's Tuesday and that can only mean one thing: Social Night at the Hackspace from 19:30. I've been away a couple of weeks so don't know what anybody's plans and projects for today are but pop down to see what we down if you fancy it.

A view of the Hackspace on an afternoon where the first signs of the coming spring abound. The field is very muddy.

100

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

Trustee Nick visited the @raspberrypi.com store today and picked up a couple of Pico 2W to use in the Hacky Racer motor controller. We had a Pico W but felt like updating and having a spare.

The storefront of the Raspberry Pi store which is minimalistic white & wood a bit like an Apple store.

000

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

This coming Tuesday 17th February we're running another Social/Induction evening at the Hackspace. We also plan to fire up the pancake machine so there will be automated pancakes available as well as the usual tea/coffee and biscuits.

033

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

Sometimes we get people asking if we can fix/make/modify things. It's not a 'service' we can guarantee but luckily last night member Matt had time to help somebody with a clothes rail which wasn't tall enough for long dresses. They'd bought longer poles that didn't fit and Matt was able to oblige.

A tall clothes rail with garment bags hanging.

The metal poles that make up the clothes rail.

010

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

One of the items at Repair Café was a spot cleaner where the pump had stopped working. If we can't repair it on the spot we often have to order a part. Unfortunately VAX had changed things and it wouldn't fit. Some lengthy skilled work got the old pump working and this one sent back.

030

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

Meanwhile, Trustee Nick who is also waiting for his BC250 board, is messing around with a recycled HP server power supply to power it. This will mean designing a custom case and a bit more work or simply letting it all hang out with some Kapton tape to protect those high current 12V connections.

A view of the edge connector on an HP server power supply. There is a resistor and wire soldered to the smaller contacts and a pair of crocodile clips are connected to the large power pads, driving a 12V light bulb.

010

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

Trustee Matt is doing another BC250 make. It's the same case design in different colours, which look absolutely great, but he's still waiting for the board to arrive.

A BC250 case in 'galaxy black' 3D printer filament with fire red laser cut acrylic side panels in a hex pattern.

110

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

Sometimes you can augment old techniques with new equipment. Member Dan wanted to engrave a pint glass so used the Cricut at the Hackspace to cut out some stencils from some stencil film, then applied glass etching cream.

A piece of plastic film stuck to the side of a pint glass.

A toothpaste-looking paste applied to the stencil. Probably best not to use this as toothpaste.

021

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

🏆 Volunteer Group of the Year 🏆 This recognition belongs to our amazing volunteers, members, and wider community. Every repair, every workshop, every hour given freely is what makes this place special. Thank you for believing in what we do and for helping build something truly community-led 💙

032

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

We're proud to say that last night the Hackspace won "Volunteer Group of the Year" in Rochford District Council's citizen awards. Thank you everyone who nominated us and thanks to RDC for the support!

An etched glass block style awards trophy with the crest of Rochford District Council and showing the Hackspace as "Volunteer group of the year".

A certificate from Rochford District Council showing the Hackspace as "Volunteer group of the year".

151

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

Meanwhile another member has been working on the gearbox and brake setup. As our chassis is more evolved than designed things have got messy but he's identified how he thinks best to do this now. The gearbox enclosure is currently 3D printed in 100% infill nylon but will likely eventually be cast.

A view of the twin rear disks and gearboxes for the Hacky Racer

020

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

Progress on our Hacky Racer is slow but yesterday things got done. We've got a MakerBase ODrive v3.6-56V to run our dual motor setup. This is going to need some mixing of the two based off throttle and steering and also the brake switches to cut drive when braking. So we've connected a Pi Pico.

131

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

It's Tuesday today so that means it's Social Night at the Hackspace tonight from 19:30. Pop in and see what we're up to.

A view of the Hackspace on a full day. The field is very muddy.

001

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

Yesterday, after Repair Café, two members did a bit of a rearrange in the metalshop. One workbench got modified so our new and improved welding table could be stored underneath. The old Welding bench is being repurposed for glasswork with the kiln and oxygen concentrator on it.

A welding bench that stands on casters tucked underneath another bench. The welding bench carries a large Parweld welded.

A welding bench with a blue kiln on top to the left and a mounted gas torch to the right. Underneath is a large machine, which is an oxygen concentrator. Various pipes are coiled on the lower shelf.

022

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

At the weekend we ran a Repair Café at East Essex Hackspace. People brought along broken household items, electronics, bikes, and battery-powered kit. Together we diagnosed faults, repaired what we could, and explained what was going on so people could learn in the process.

063

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

Repair Cafe at the Hackspace this morning!

171

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

Mostly a 4.10/3.50-5 tyre, punch a valve sized hole in the sidewall, put valve through. Undo screws and separate the motor from the shaft by hand, then use a hammer to remove hub from old tyre with hammer. Then push them together, screw up, inflate to 20psi.

010

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

Buy 4.10/3.50-5 tyres and inner tubes. Strip down hub motor and remove solid tyre. Make a hole in the side of the tyre for the valve stem. Squeeze onto hub motor, but remember to pass valve out of the 'front' of the hub. Reassemble and pump to fairly low PSI, maybe 20. Beware of plastic ones.

A disassembled hoverboard hub motor on a table.

A tyre with a hole punched in the sidewall.

The tyre on the hub motor but the valve is on the wrong side.

110

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

Yesterday, Tim was looking at turning a luggage cart into a powered one with the idea of eventually having several in a 'wagon train'. Motive power will be hoverboard hub motors but fitted with pneumatic tyres. Good progress was made, next it will involve chopping the rear frame and some welding.

The partially assembled luggage trolley sitting on a table.

A stripped down hoverboard chassis offered up to the rear 'bogie'.

A hoverboard hub motor with the solid rubber tyre removed and pneumatic tyre fitted.

The beginnings of a mounting for the hub motors. It is constructed from chopped down axle mount sections from the original hoverboard chassis and a piece of steel to bolt them to.

162

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

The sides have been fitted to the BC250 enclosure and the fasteners are a bit too prominent so there are some black anodised countersunk ones on their way to fit.

The BC250 case sat on a low cupboard with its new acrylic sides. In the background is a Voron 3D printer.

The BC250 case sat on a low cupboard with its new acrylic sides.

100

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

We've been equipping the Hackspace for jewellery and glassworking recently. We now have things like an oxygen concentrator and small kiln available. Members have been getting to grips with these and developing the practical skills to use them.

A piece of worked glass that looks like a flower bud.

A little sheepy looking guy made of glass

A piece of worked glass looking like a flower petal.

131

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

It's cold and wet outside but warm and dry in the Hackspace tonight for our regular Social Night from 19:30. This weekend members had a big tidy and reorganise of the woodshop and we might make further progress on that so we can get the table saw back into operation.

A view of the Hackspace on a cold grey day.

The Hackspace woodshop looking less crowded than usual.

010

East Essex Hackspace @eehackspace.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

The second half of the case got printed along with the sides. It's sectioned for typical 3D printer build volumes but as we've an A0 laser cutter a remix to one piece sides was done. First test fit was done in ply before cutting in acrylic. It's come out quite nicely.

Trying the laser cut ply on the BC250 case.

Trying out some red vinyl behind the acrylic for contrast.

110