Hitchin Hackspace

@hackhitchin.bsky.social

218 Followers 145 Following

An innovative space for makers to create using state of the art tools, in a transformed former public toilet. Come join us to do something out of the ordinary!

The Hitchin Hackspace Gameboy Monumental is on site at #EMFCamp at last. We didn't quite get it ready in time for the previous event. The picture shows a massive Gameboy which appears to be partially buried, at a tilt to the right, in to the ground. One of the two round buttons on the front of the console is "buried". In front of the console is a music stand, the top of which has been replaced by a pair of 3d printed cupped hands which act as a receptacle or holder for the remote controller for the console. The console is 2.5-3m tall on the screen a game of Tetris is in progress. To the left in the foreground Hitchin Hackspace member Rich stands with his back to the camera. Unseen his hands hold the controller as he plays the game.

Hitchin hackspace's Gameboy Monumental is a huge up scale gameboy made using multiple recycled LED panels. It appears to be partially buried in the ground and stands nearly 3m tall. In the photo it almost fills the width of a corridor in an industrial building. There are people stood to the left and right of the Gameboy. The Gameboy joypad is at floor level and the lower button appears to be partially buried in the floor.

A screen shot of the eBay app settings screen to select the app theme. Available options are:
Light: Always use Light theme
Dark: Always use Dark theme.
Battery saver: Use Dark theme. only when your device has Battery saver enabled.
System default: Use the theme set in your device display settings.

The open front door of the Hitchin Hackspace is in the centre of the image. The Hackspace is a single storey brick built building, a former public convenience. Just to the right of the door is a small square topped folding table with some handouts and flyers on it. To the right of the table is a "pop-up" banner about 2m tall with photos and information about the repair cafe events.

A picture of the new Bambu Carbon X1 3D printer. The machine is is a silver coloured box about 600mm tall, 500mm wide and 500mm deep. It has a snakes black door panel on the front and on the front top edge is a small black control panel with a touch screen LCD display. On top of the unit is the AMS system which contains four different spoils of printer filament. Mounted vertically there is an intricate mechanism that allows the printer to swap between different colours or types of filament mid print. The spools are covered by a curved clear plastic lid which allows the spools to be viewed. The printer is on top of a white cupboard about 1m tall which is against a wall. Behind the top of the printer is a strip of trunking with mains power outlets and network port sockets. On top of the trunking are a selection of multicoloured 3D printed parts from earlier projects and examples of what can be achieved with 3D printing.

A picture of the wired hand controller unit on a special sculptured stand. The stand looks like a pair of roughly sculpted hands gripping the controller, in the background is the GameBoy Monumental itself.

This picture is in the office side of the hackspace. There are office desks with chairs to the left and right. Against the wall is a steel frame constructed out of angled steel strip. Mounted on to the metal frame are six 500mm high by 1.5m wide plywood panels. each panel hs a fan cooled power supply with power cables going to each LED paner section. There are 8 PCBs per plywood panel wich connect to each LED panel and these are connected by wide grey ribbon cables in a daisy chain. The last link of the chain is a longer length of ribbon cable hanging down waiting to be connected to a commn point with the other 5 panels.

The assembly takes shape. This image is in the hackspace workshop area. There are lot of benches and tools in the background. In the foreground is the Bosch strut aluminium spar frame. The bottom hafl, up to where the screen will be installed is cald in white panels. There is a cutout for the joypad and the large black joupad is patrialliy installed. on the blue tiled floor, to the bottom right of the fram and panels the two round buttons sit on the floor ready to be installed.

A photograph of one of the hackspace whiteboards with preliminary sketches of the panels, how they might be arranged and a prototype of the sketch of the support frame.

A CAD Model of the empty shell / casing of the GameBoy Monumental cut off at the bottom at an angle so that when finished it will appear to be partially burried in the ground.

The first concept art image. Not quite sure where this came from. Two figures, with their backs towards the viewer, sort of dressed in outdoor/pseudo combat gear, are stood in a very sandy place either side of a massive Gameboy patially burried in the sand. Sand is ramped up around the base of the console. Slightly out of focus, in the background are the skeletons of large building or metal framed structures

The GameBoy Monumental is a very large upscaled GameBoy hand held console. It has been set up in a large wide corridor. The corridor is about 4m wide and the ceiling is about 5m high. The floor is a shiny dark grey and there are white walls left and right. In the foreground in the floor is a 2m square access hatch painted with yellow warning stripes. Just to the left are some sections of the GameBoy body panels waiting to be assembled on to the Gameboy. The Gameboy is 2m wide and 3m high but is positioned at an angle off vertical and appears to be partially buried in to the floor to a level that passes through the lower button on the front panel. The front panel has the black "+" joypad on the left and the button, and a half, on the right. There are 3 hackspace members stood by the GameBoy. One on the left, two on the right. Their heads are about halfway up the screen. The screen is showing Tetris on it.