Events

Starship Factory is moving

Starship Factory is currently closed. Since we have to vacate our club rooms in the interim use at Klybeck, we looked for suitable premises and found them on Gasstrasse, near Voltaplatz. At the moment the rooms at Klybeck are closed as we are in the middle of the move. From mid-June you will find us (though not yet fully set up) at Gasstrasse 20, in the rear courtyard.

Christmas light repair workshop

The festive season is just around the corner and your Christmas lights have stopped working? Do not worry! Come to our meetup at Starship Factory and repair your Christmas lights with our electronics experts. What can you expect? Professional support: our experienced techies help you get faulty light chains, stars and other illuminated decorations shining again. Tools and materials: all the tools and materials you need for the repair are available on site. A cosy atmosphere: enjoy a warm and welcoming atmosphere in our workshop, exchange ideas with other participants and let the pre-Christmas mood inspire you. Who can take part? Everyone is welcome, whether you are handy or not. Our electronics experts are there to help you with advice and hands-on support.

Laser your design onto all sorts of materials!

Do you have a unique design that you would like to put onto different materials such as wood or metal? At Starship Factory we offer you the chance to engrave your design onto a range of surfaces with state-of-the-art laser technology. Date: Friday, 29 November 2024 Time: 19:30 – 22:00 Location: Makerspace Basel, Starship Factory, Klybeckstrasse 141, Basel

Workshop on computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) in FreeCAD

Following the workshop on constraint-based/parametric modelling in FreeCAD, let’s take a look at CAM (i.e. computer-aided manufacturing) in FreeCAD! We’ll start with some theory on 3-axis CNC milling, covering Different types of milling bits Chipload RPM Feedrate Depth of cut Conventional versus climb cutting Next, we’ll check out some options in the Path workbench in FreeCAD, focusing on operations to generate different kinds of tool paths like

Workshop on constraint-based and parametric modelling in FreeCAD

Constraint-based and parametric modelling is ideal for prototyping something, as it is straightforward to modify your design without having to partially re-model it. Rather than drawing your geometry at a fixed position and with a fixed scale and orientation, constraint-based modelling allows you to add bits of geometry (e.g. line segments, circular arcs, …) and specify properties — constraints — such as length, angle or distance in a flexible way. In addition, you can assign labels to values, which can be used to define properties of other bits of geometry (e.g. define a circular arc with the same length as a line segment elsewhere).

Punch with snowflakes

Oops, is it the end of the year again? Only one thing helps: change down a gear, roll to a stop and switch into contemplative mode. An excellent opportunity to sit together again, look back over the year and do a bit of lasering (what else)! This year we would like to build snowflakes with you, since snow has become rare in the Rhine plain. We defy global warming with Bleeptrack’s snowflake generator and create our own diversity that way. Of course you are welcome to laser other things too. If you are artistically gifted you have the chance to pick up a pen and create your own cutting templates with our help. The materials for the workshop are provided. There is also non-alcoholic punch and, if you prefer, mulled wine — plus harmful carbohydrates for everyone too weak to resist. We are already looking forward to seeing you!

Playing with Home Assistant

+++ Date changed +++ Date changed +++ Date changed +++ Date changed +++ Home automation is becoming ever more important. The components can now be bought in any DIY store. Our flats and houses are supposed to become “intelligent”. That is not always useful or sensible. But you can have a great deal of fun with it.

Workshop: Easter decorations from the laser cutter

Dear makers, Starship Factory invites you on 7 March between 14:00 and 17:00 to an Easter decoration workshop. We will burn Easter motifs out of thin wooden sheets with the laser cutter and then colour them in. Anyone who feels like joining in can drop by at any time. There is no fixed start time.

Django Girls Basel workshop on 8 July 2019

On 8 July the Django Girls will be giving a free workshop at the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland in Muttenz on getting started with building websites using Django. The workshop is open to women and gender minorities and requires no prior knowledge whatsoever. Here is a short overview again: When? 8 July 2019, roughly 9:00 to 19:00 Where? FHNW Campus Muttenz For whom? Women and gender minorities with no prior knowledge Web: https://djangogirls.org/basel/ Twitter: @DjangoGirlsBSL Instagram: DjangoGirlsBasel Would you like to help? We would be delighted if you want to support this event with your expertise! Apply here

Starship Factory general assembly 2019

On 09 February 2019 at 16:00 (Auf dem Wolf 13, 4052 Basel) this year’s regular general assembly of Starship Factory takes place. The agenda will be sent out in good time (2 weeks before the assembly). Agenda items can still be submitted until 05.02.2019 to board@lists.starship-factory.ch. Members of Starship Factory are warmly invited; interested non-members are welcome to attend the assembly but have no voting rights.

Electronics beginners workshop

On 02 May at 19:00 an electronics workshop takes place at Starship Factory. This workshop is aimed at electronics beginners looking for their first way into electronics. Depending on the participants’ interests we will cover the following topics: Resistance, voltage, current. What are they? Simple resistor circuits Voltage dividers Calculating series resistors, and LEDs Simple transistor circuits The participation fee is CHF 15, one drink included.

Raspberry Pi workshop

On 29 October there is another Raspberry Pi workshop at Starship Factory. Part 1: getting to know the Raspberry Pi Get to know the Raspberry Pi 3 and build a wireless access point with it. Part 2: Raspberry Pi *blink* Learn to control simple electronics and let it become a thing of the internet.

La Kunsthalle Mulhouse en visite au Weltraum

On 21 October at 20:00 we will listen together to the Silkscreenrecords by Yann Leguay. The session starts at 20:00 at Weltraum, right next to Starship Factory. This event is organised by Culturesurfing. We wish you a lot of fun and good listening!

Fermentation nation – second edition

SHORT SUMMARY: Meet like-minded fermentalists, newbies and experienced alike, in the Basel area: everyone is welcome to join, learn and share cultures, recipes and experiences! Background This meeting is aimed at bringing together those people in the Basel area who are looking for cultures and ways to start fermenting. Come, learn from others and join us in sharing recipes, cultures and experiences!

Everyday I'm Ansiblin

In IT, many tasks consist of managing machines, configuring additional machines and keeping the current configuration up to date. In the past that was done by hand by so-called sysadmins, who in reaction to it frequently displayed particular forms of derangement. Fortunately there are systems these days to automate these tasks and formalise the setup of systems. This meetup is about ansible, a tool for that purpose.

Everything is transient – and tasty!

On 10 June from 20:00 a meetup on the subject of fermentation takes place at Starship Factory. Because everything is transient – and tasty! Here is the description of the event: Meet like-minded fermentalists, newbies and experienced alike, in the Basel area: everyone is welcome to join, learn and share cultures, recipes and experiences!

Saturday is Arduino Day!

On Saturday, 2 April 2016, the time has come: Arduino Day is upon us! A few highlights of the day: 16:00: HelvePic32: Arduino-compatible microcontrollers to build yourself, by Dr. Mathias Wilhelm 18:00: GePS – the gesture-based audio performance system by Cedric Spindler This and more on Saturday, 2 April 2016 from 13:30 at Starship Factory, Auf dem Wolf 13, Basel. Anyone who likes is welcome to bring their Arduino or other microcontroller along and get advice, exhilaration and inspiration from us. We look forward to seeing you!

2 April: Arduino Day 2016 at Starship Factory

On 2 April 2016 the international Arduino Day takes place again. And this time too we at Starship Factory will be putting on a varied programme. A few highlights: For everyone curious and new to it, Christoph from Starship Factory gives an insight into the Arduino world: what is an Arduino? What do you do with it? How can I dive into the Arduino world myself, right here? Dr. Mathias Wilhelm presents his HelvePIC32 project, an Arduino-compatible microcontroller to solder together yourself. Cedric from CS Audio Design presents his Gesture Based Performance System (GePS) in a workshop, which turns body movements into music. The detailed programme with all the activities will be published shortly. But do not wait for it — put 2 April in your calendar today!

Workshop "Opening locks for beginners (and the advanced)" in December

You had to wait a long time, but now the time has finally come: there is another workshop on opening locks for beginners (and the advanced)! In a relaxed atmosphere and with friendly fellow learners you will learn how a lock is built, how locks can be opened without force, and what to look out for when buying a lock. A large number of practice locks offers plenty of challenges. No prior knowledge is needed to take part; everything required is learned on site during the workshop.

Digital self-defence: the crypto September

Every day you read about new attacks on privacy. Thanks to people like Edward Snowden we know about the NSA surveillance affair; laptop theft, attacks by spam bots and credit card sharks are everyday occurrences, and politics keeps pushing for more surveillance and deeper intrusions into privacy. It is only natural, then, that as a user you want to protect your data better against other people’s access. But what to do?

Workshop "Programming for absolute beginners"

Have you always wanted to learn to program, but thought until now that it was too hard for you, or simply never got round to it? We have exactly the right workshop for you, and it is easier than you think. Come by and let us convince you! On Saturday, 27.06.2015 from 14:00 to 16:30, Alexander Schremmer (xoraxax) is giving an introduction to the basics of programming using the programming language “Python”. Anyone who wants to learn to program can take part — member or not. No prior knowledge of programming is needed; knowing some English is useful (but not required).

Barbecue for the start of summer

On 21 June the time has come again: summer begins! So we would like to invite you warmly to Starship Factory for a barbecue and shop talk. When? 21 June 2015, 14:00 Where? Auf dem Wolf 13 in Basel Please bring along whatever you want to grill yourself. Drinks and snacks are, as always, already taken care of. Salads and other side dishes are very welcome.

Workshop for women: help, my clothes are glowing!

On Sunday, 19 April 2015 from 14:00 to 18:00 there is a workshop by women for women: Do you find ordinary clothes too boring too? With EL wire you can add glowing messages in many different luminous colours! And with our T-shirt film you can put a non-glowing message underneath.

Workshop: opening locks for beginners

On 17.04.2015 at 18:00 a workshop on “opening locks for beginners” takes place at Starship Factory’s premises. The workshop aims to give beginners an understanding, through tangible examples, of how a lock is built, which principles ensure its security, and what to look out for when choosing locking mechanisms. The moral and legal limits of lockpicking are also covered (for example that only practice locks may be opened, ones that are not, or no longer, used for security).

April at Starship Factory

New space, new possibilities: this April we are offering a whole series of workshops for interested people. Saturday, 11 April 2015, 15:00: Making spare parts with OpenSCAD (3 hours) Missing a spare part, or has something broken? With OpenSCAD and a pair of callipers a replacement is made in no time. Bring CHF 20 and we will show you how.

Arduino Day on Saturday, 28.03.2015

This Saturday, 28 March 2015, is international Arduino Day! From 14:00 to 18:00 you can bring your own Arduino projects to us at Starship Factory, talk about microcontrollers, or find out what an Arduino actually is. There is bound to be an exciting new project in it for someone. Do you not have an Arduino of your own, or are all your Arduinos already tied up in other projects? No problem: Arduinos and other microcontrollers are available here at Starship Factory too, for a contribution towards costs.

Talk: keeping ball pythons on 27.03.2015

Dear Starshiponauts and interested people! On Friday, 27.03.2015 at 19:30, Flint will give a talk about keeping ball pythons at Starship Factory (see the directions). The talk is open to non-members too and lasts about 40 minutes. Questions can be asked afterwards. The speaker would like to introduce interested people to this particular hobby, or rather pet. He owns four ball pythons himself. In this talk he covers facts about this pet as well as characteristics you have to pay attention to if you want to keep a ball python yourself.

Spaghetti dinner

Starship Factory invites everyone to a spaghetti dinner. On 19 December 2014 everyone is warmly invited to Starship Factory. From 19:00 we will be cooking spaghetti and making sauces. Soft drinks are available on site. We will sit together and celebrate our successful projects. Register by email to workshops@lists.starship-factory.ch. First visit? You will find us via: How to find us

Workshop "Programming for absolute beginners" on 23.08.2014

Have you always wanted to learn to program, but thought until now that it was too hard for you, or simply never got round to it? We have exactly the right workshop for you, and it is easier than you think. Come by and let us convince you! On Saturday, 23.08.2014 from 13:00 to 19:00, Alexander Schremmer (xoraxax) is giving an introduction to the basics of programming using the programming language “Python”. Participants must be 16 or older. No prior knowledge of programming is needed; knowing some English is useful (but not required).

T-shirt printing made easy! Workshop on 16 August

On 16.08.2014 at 15:00 we are running a T-shirt printing workshop. With laptop, cutting plotter and transfer press to the design you want on your T-shirt. Anyone who can use a keyboard and mouse can print T-shirts too. We will show you how! Together we will turn your T-shirt idea, or one of our templates, into a finished printed T-shirt which you can take away straight after the course.

Soldering workshop with Mitch Altman on 20 May

Mitch Altman from the hackerspace “Noisebridge” in San Francisco has announced himself as our guest. On 20 May at 18:00 he will be giving a soldering workshop here at Starship Factory. It is suitable for beginners who have never soldered and are looking for an easy way in. The kits, on the other hand, are varied and interesting for the more advanced too.

Workshop "T-shirt printing made easy" at Nähcafé Kiel

Now that the congress is over, our T-shirt printing experts are making a short stop in Kiel, where we want to spread our knowledge of T-shirt production. So there will be a workshop on T-shirt design at the local Nähcafé. There we will turn your T-shirt idea, or one of our templates, into a finished printed T-shirt which you can take away with you straight after the course. We will show you the basics of the open source program Inkscape (Mac, Win, Linux) and convert a template (a photo or logo, say) into a vector graphic suitable as a motif.

T-shirt production at 30c3

Until tomorrow we are present at the 30th Chaos Communication Congress in Hamburg with an assembly. Thanks to numerous interested visitors, the cutting plotter and the T-shirt press are running almost continuously, and people are busily developing, plotting and pressing their own T-shirt designs. The important part of the process is less the T-shirt itself than that visitors learn thoroughly how to print T-shirts themselves under guidance — from the graphic to the press.