East Essex Hackspace

01/11/2026

🎃👻 Can we help Dexter’s Halloween smash the £3,000 barrier for Little Havens Children's Hospice? 👻🎃

Halloween might be over, but there's one last bit of magic we'd love your help with! ✨

🧟 This year, East Essex Hackspace Repair Café had the pleasure of helping Dexter's Halloween Extravaganza by bringing some of their spooky animatronics back from the dead, ready to terrify visitors!

💀 Dexter and his family have put an extraordinary amount of time, effort and their own money into creating a spectacular Halloween walkthrough, all to raise money for Little Havens Children's Hospice.

🎃 Last year, they raised over £1,700. This year, they went even bigger, nearly doubling the size of their display!

💰 And they're now SO close to their £3,000 target!
At the time of writing, they've raised an incredible £2,535, leaving just £465 to go!

❤️ Little Havens provides specialist care and support, completely free of charge, to children and young people with complex or incurable conditions and their families across Essex.

🙌 We'd love to see our wonderful Hackspace community help push Dexter over that £3,000 milestone.

Whether you visited the display, enjoyed seeing the creations online or simply want to support a fantastic local cause, please consider donating whatever you can.

👇 DONATE HERE:
https://www.justgiving.com/page/dexter-halloween

📢 And if you can't donate, please SHARE this post! It costs nothing and could make all the difference.

🧡 Let's show Dexter what the East Essex community can do when we pull together!

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01/11/2026

Some more photos from the weekends Hacky Racers

01/11/2026

The Hacky Racers were out at Santa Pod this weekend. Velociracer got a chance at the drag track! Big tykes ate dust

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

01/11/2026

Sometimes at a repair cafe an item appears which has history but can't be easily or economically repaired by anyone.

When Andy Cross brought in this challenge, especially with a missing part, it presented a substantial mystery to boot.

In fact it was good luck that LinuxCNC was updated with a new feature that month which was exactly what was needed to machine a new part, so whilst it may have been possible in other ways, this certainly made it easier.

Andy Pugh, an engineering genius, takes us through comprehensively the process he went through, failures included, to fix these and probably ensure their future for years to come.

The BBC Repair Shop can eat their heart out.

A repair to some Zeiss binoculars provided a good reason to sign-of...

01/11/2026

Sometimes at a repair cafe an item appears which has history but can't be easily or economically repaired by anyone.

When Andy Cross brought in this challenge, especially with a missing part, it presented a substantial mystery to boot.

In fact it was good luck that LinuxCNC was updated with a new feature that month which was exactly what was needed to machine a new part, so whilst it may have been possible in other ways, this certainly made it easier.

Andy Pugh, an engineering genius, takes us through comprehensively the process he went through, failures included, to fix these and probably ensure their future for years to come.

The BBC Repair Shop can eat their heart out.

https://youtu.be/kA4xADpQGB8

A repair to some Zeiss binoculars provided a good reason to sign-of...

24/10/2026

🔥 Getting creative with glass at East Essex Hackspace!

We've been busy making glass beads in the workshop, and just look at some of the results!

From simple amber beads to tiny glass pumpkins, it's amazing what you can create with a bit of heat, coloured glass and some patience.

Glass bead making is just one of the many creative activities taking place at East Essex Hackspace. Whether you're interested in traditional crafts, electronics, woodworking, 3D printing or just learning something new, there's plenty to explore.

Fancy seeing what we're all about? Come along to our Tuesday social evening from 7:30pm for a look around the workshops and a chat with our members.

🌐 https://eehack.space

14/10/2026

Great to meet the minds behind Dexter's Halloween, raising money for Havens! We managed to repair a couple of the props and hope to get a 3rd sorted when the tiny little chip arrives!

If you're looking for something to do this Halloween they've setup a fantastic haunted house - make sure you keep this on your radar!

02/10/2026

Darren’s autistic son absolutely loves buttons. Big buttons, little buttons, anything he can press!

These six big arcade buttons have been hanging around the Hackspace for a while, and Darren was probably hoping his son had forgotten about them.

He had not. 😂

So last night Darren finally got to work, printing this frame on the 3D printer and starting to turn them into a proper button board.

Unfortunately, a love of buttons has grown somewhat since these were first promised. Darren has now been informed that the ultimate goal is 53 buttons.

So here are the first six in progress. Only 47 to go… 😬
Will Darren ever make it to 53? We’ll keep you posted!

01/10/2026

Freight house update! Though we are waiting for clarification from RDC on legal issues before the lease can be signed.

The reopening of Rochford's historic Freight House has been delayed after more asbestos was found during refurbishment