Tucked away behind Sneinton Market in a Victorian factory building, Nottingham Hackspace is a place for makers, inventors, tinkerers, crafters, board game enthusiasts, robot designers and, well, anyone who fancies trying their hand at making weird and wonderful things. Set over two floors, the building is home to all manner of machinery and supplies that anyone can access for a monthly membership fee. We went along to speak to members Aaron, Steve and Douglas to chat about the organisation’s history and how people can get involved…
Can you tell us a bit about what Hackspace is?
Aaron: It’s kind of difficult to summarise all of the things that happen in Hackspace, because that’s why we end up calling it the Hackspace. There’s a little 3D printing area, spaces for laser cutting, woodworking, metalworking, electronics… We’ve got different areas, like the craft room which has sewing and stuff. We have a studio for crazy events, playing board games, etc.
Do you three have any favourite things to do at Hackspace, personal specialisms?
Aaron: Electronics is what I mostly do, but I love experimenting with different tools, doing some woodwork, which I’m terrible at. I have learned to use the embroidery machine, laser cutter, metalworking, I’ll try anything. It’s all fun.
Steve: I got involved with metalworking and I’ve also made good use of the laser cutter, the 3D printer, electronics, tools. One of the things I’ve been doing recently is making combat robots, so those tools have been very useful for that.
Douglas: Yeah, I’m into CNC machining [computer programmed tools] and metalworking.
What’s the weirdest thing that someone’s made here?
Steve: There’s a child sized mannequin dressed up as an Oliver Twist urchin.
Aaron: He used to talk - you’d come in the door and he would start saying things.
Steve: Someone else made a talking donation box, and they were programmed to have arguments.
Aaron: This came out of a Crap-A-Thon event.
Steve: It’s basically a Hack-A-Thon for useless ideas. Andrew made a hover-toaster - a toaster on top of a hovercraft. I made a project downstairs that when you turned the lights off, it would make a ghastly cackling noise and flash the lights - that was a Halloween project.
Do people work together and end up making friends through that? Is it a community that maintains itself? How do you guys find it?
Aaron: I think it’s kind of a bit of all of it.
Steve: Some people just kind of like to do what they do on their own, that’s fine. Some people want to come here and do things as a group. We have a big group with the combat robots, we have people who do war games and board games, there are other groups of people who tend to come in and chat.
Douglas: We have a Discord as well, so if you want to get help or ask questions you can get communities online.
Some people just kind of like to do what they do on their own, that’s fine. Some people want to come here and do things as a group
I think I heard about other Hackspaces across the country?
Douglas: There are quite a few dotted around.
Aaron: There’s a new one opening in Ashfield as well. It’s quite nearby. There’s one in Leicester, Sheffield, Manchester, Swansea, Cardiff… all over the place!
Back in October there was a battle robot fighting competition? I gather that was fun!
Steve: Me and Sam organised that, although mostly Sam. They were slightly smaller scale than the ones you see on TV… These robots are only about 150g, but still entertaining.
How do people prep for the competition - do they have a robot team?
Steve: We have gone to events in Sheffield and Bristol and other places, both with larger (1.5kg) robots, so some of us were panicking all day until about 10pm.
Douglas: The day before they’d always be there for the entire day.
Steve: 11am until 10pm, trying to get our robot finished, then we drove down to Bristol overnight and finished it off. Definitely fun but also a bit stressy!
Do you come home with a mangled robot, though?
Steve: We did catch fire at the last two…
Douglas: I think that’s against the rules, though.
You run a tour every week on Wednesdays for people to come in and see the space. Do you also have seasonal events that happen around the year?
Aaron: Definitely at Christmas - in August we had a mini feast to invite people to bring food and share it and play board games or watch a film. That was really nice, we had a good time.
Douglas: Every two months people come in and work on improving the space itself and that’s often a good community day, along with doing improvement work.
Being such a collective space rather than a traditional business - how did Hackspace get through the challenge of Covid and lockdowns?
Steve: Fortunately a lot of our members carried on paying, to keep the doors open, grants helped as well. One of the biggest trustees, who was around before my time, came up with a booking system like preparing stages for the opening slowly - people could still use the space for essential purposes if they booked ahead, and gave a reason. Another group of people got involved with using the 3D printers and other tools like the laser cutter to make masks for people in our community - there was a GoFundMe for that project.
It’s important to invite new members as well - people move around, people aren’t members here forever, so it’s important that people know about this space and what it can offer
Do you guys have any particular aims for this Hackspace or things you want to see happen in the future?
Aaron: I definitely want to see it still being here in a couple of years’ time and that’s always a challenge, because, especially in the current financial crisis, not everyone can afford to pay how much they think it’s worth.
Douglas: It’s important to invite new members as well - people move around, people aren’t members here forever, so it’s important that people know about this space and what it can offer.
Aaron: We have a membership team that does public tours on Wednesday nights, and we kind of take it in turns to go around and show people the space, and answer the questions by email as well. My goal is to see membership increase and see activity come back from what it was before Covid. The trustees will have different ideas of what they want to see happen.
Steve: I signed up as a trustee because I wanted to help us get back on our feet after lockdown.
Douglas: Covid was a kind of community schism, really, because after so long, the community kind of fractures, people don’t know each other quite as well.
Steve: We’re trying to restore a sense of community.
You can find Hackspace at Unit F6, Roden House, Roden St, Nottingham NG3 1JH and you can find out more by attending their weekly membership tour every Wednesday at 7pm
@hackspace
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