There’s a rule of thumb in the hackerspace community – hold your open house on Tuesday. It’s completely arbitrary. No matter what day of the week you do pick for your open house, there will be someone who just can’t make it. Many just pick Tuesday by convention and no more thought is needed. Unfortunately, it makes it hard to visit other spaces since members generally want to be at home base for the open house. But since I was out of town with no hopes of making it to Kwartzlab, I had a perfect excuse to take a Tuesday to visit Hacklab.to.

Tucked away between two shops in the north end of Kensington Market, it’s an easy place to miss. It’s one of those mysterious doorways in the city that appeals to my inner child (who has a love of the paranormal, secret passageways and hidden worlds). Whose door is it? What’s behind it? There are a few clues that suggest there’s something more to 170 Baldwin Street. A simplex push-button lock and RFID reader guard the door while an infrared LED-lined camera provides overwatch.

I arrived just after 7 to a full house. Rent in the big city isn’t cheap and space is at a premium, meaning seats at the main work table fill up fast. At less than 500 square feet, Hacklab isn’t a space for manufacturing big things, either. They’re much closer to the stereotypical description of “hacker” than most of the other spaces I’ve visited, with a strong emphasis on electronics, software, and information security. But even with the limited floor space, there’s still a wide variety of projects going on. A model railroad hangs from the ceiling. A box of locks for locksport enthusiasts can be found in the lounge. There’s even an ’80s Mac Classic hanging out in a closet.

At 3 years old, Hacklab.to is the oldest hackerspace in Canada. In the big picture that’s not a long time, but it’s long enough that Hacklab can claim at least partial credit in helping establish a few other hackerspaces in the province such as Site 3 and Kwartzlab. Being the first, they’ve also been able to attract some media attention from places like BoingBoing and Discovery Channel.

Hacklab has a number of great tools available to the membership. A workbench constructed over the bathtub holds an Epilog ULS (my bad) laser cutter – a cheap craigslist find that some lab members brough back to life with extensive hardware and software rebuilding. A tricked-out Makerbot 3D printer lives on a shelf near the main work table, and evidence of it’s capabilities cover the short wall next to the stairs.

In addition to the oddles of thermoplastic gizmos and doodads next to the stairs, there are member projects scattered everywhere in the space. One of my favourites was a touch-screen computer hanging on a central support near the main work table. The display oozed with data and information, such as the date and time, and news feeds. Other mostly complete projects seem to collect on any available flat space. It’s not clutter – they’re evidence of learning and education. For many, hacking isn’t about the end product, it’s what you learn on the way. These leftovers, then, are trophies of accomplishment. Of conquering the unknown.

Hacklab.to is located at 170 Baldwin Street in Toronto, Ontario. They run an open house on Tuesday from 5:30 PM to 11:00 PM every week.

On Victoria Day Monday, I joined a handful of folks from the Hamilton hackerspace Think|haus in Mount Nemo to have a look at one of the leading location candidates for SoOnCamp 2012.

SoOnCamp will be an outdoor hacker meetup, modeled on the popular European hacker camps like the quadrennial Chaos Communication Camp held in Germany. The idea of hacking and camping is a curious juxtaposition, not only due to the classic stereotype of hackers living in unlit basements, but for more practical concerns as well. Our makerly society is largely dependant on the infrastructure of our cities, especially electricity and internet access – two utilities that are scarcely found in nature.

SoOnCamp, then, will be less like camping and more like Everest Base Camp. A temporary city, complete with utilities, infrastructure, and 1500 artists, makers, and hackers, plopped down in the middle of the Canadian wilderness.

The similarities between the European hacker camps and the famous Burning Man, as a vehicle for counter-culture community development and self-expression, are hard to ignore. But the hacker-centric events also bring a strong influence from information technology and small-scale manufacturing. At mini Maker Faire Toronto, I noted how strange it was that 3D printers have become so popular and widespread in the hacker community that they outnumbered traditional printers (in fact, I didn’t see any paper printers at the event). Even stranger it will be, then, to see these production capabilities in the middle of nowhere, Canada, churning out ABS knick-knacks in SoOnCamp’s prototyping building.

SoOnCamp takes place July 5 through 9, 2012. Tickets, when they go on sale, are expected to cost $200 for the 5 day event. If you’re interested in helping make SoOnCamp a reality, check out the SoOnCamp wiki.

On April 21, a delegation from Kwartzlab made the trek to Toronto to check out fellow hackerspace Site 3 – and in particular their laser cutter!

The ground floor of Site 3 is dedicated mostly to a large, open workshop filled with big tools and large, well-lit workspaces.

The electronics workbench has a few Weller WES-51 soldering stations and a Madell bench power supply, all set up and ready to go. There’s also convenient access to parts bins right from the work space. The only thing missing is an ESD-safe table surface.

In the back corner sits a Makerbot 3D printer, hiding on a shelf and surrounded by little knick-knacks that have been printed out on it. But as Seth Hardy, one of the founders of Site 3 tells us: “A Makerbot isn’t a tool, it’s a project. You buy a Makerbot to spend time fixing a Makerbot, and contributing to the open source 3D printing world.” I’m paraphrasing a bit, but that’s the jist.

And here’s the reason we came. Gus gets a lesson on the operation of the Site 3 laser. This unit was purchased from China for about $4000, all in, including a bunch of extra parts to replace pieces that wear out. The total cost of ownership for one of these units comes in at less than half of one of Epilog’s entry-level “Zing” units, and Site 3 is quite happy with both the unit’s performance and the supplier’s customer support.

The laser in action.

Before using the laser, members and guests are required to take a training course on the proper use of the machine. At the end of the course, students cut out a sample image to demonstrate their knowledge – many of these samples are hung on the wall next to the laser.

By carefully adjusting the power settings, it’s even possible to etch a pattern into cloth or paper towel!

The upper level holds a clean workspace and lounge area for members. There’s also tons of storage space.

There was also a Portal 2 release party happening at the same time. All the computers and projectors were being dedicated to this awesome game! And… is that cake?

Yep, there’s cake. No lie. As Darcy has shown at the Ubuntu release parties hosted by Kwartzlab, you can’t have a release party without cake.

It wouldn’t be Site 3 if there wasn’t some kind of fire effects going on.