The Alacrity Culture and Technology Center

The first Open Lab in Romania

Have you ever had a great idea and the knowledge to make it work but nowhere to actually do it and nobody to help you with it? If not, lucky you... But we, the team behind Alacrity Education, faced that problem ourselves and we decided we are the ones to change that. Our center is the first Open Lab in Romania for that specific reason: if you're a great mind with an impactful idea, Alacrity is the place for you.

A Friendly Home to the Open-Source

200+ students taught - Taught directly by us, in bootcamps and 1-on-1 trainings. Every student gets to build something real and functional.

1st open-source lab in Romania - The Alacrity Center for Culture & Technology is open-access. If you have a socially impactful tech idea, come build it here. Our courses, designs and data serve the public. We put the power over the product in public hands.

All that happens at the Lab

From the second you step in, to the moment you find something to do - which is, of course, not something that takes long - you will realize that the Laboratory is a place of science, innovation, interaction and inspiration.

You might be wondering what the printers are currently making, since they're almost always doing something. You might even figure that the group of students actively debugging sensors at 11pm are a daily occurence. That's what some would call rocket science, impossible to achieve or otherwise "too complicated" - but it is actually what we call a regular Tuesday.

Electronics Test and Measurement

• 200 MHz, 4 channel digital storage oscilloscope
• 16 channel logic analyzer probe (mixed-signal capture on the scope above)
• Nordic Semiconductor Power Profiler Kit 2 (link)
• Laboratory-grade precision digital multimeter with high-accuracy test leads (500.000 counts)
• 9 general-purpose digital multimeters for cohort work, one with built-in network/cable tester
• Programmable 4-channel bench power supply (main lab supply)
• Manually adjustable dual-channel bench power supply (secondary)
• 4 high-current DC supplies converted from server PSUs: 2x 835 W, 1x 600 W, 1x 400 W ATX
• Non-contact laser tachometer, up to 99,999 RPM
• Non-contact voltage and in-wall wire detector (EMI sensing)
• Precision pocket scale with tare and piece-counting, g/oz/ct/gn/tl/ozt/dwt
• Handheld Geiger-Muller radiation counte

Digital Fabrication and Mechanical Work

• 3x no-enclosure 3D printers + 3x enclosed (large) 3D printers (for printing, for example, ABS)
• Desktop 3-axis CNC router (3018 class)
• Bandsaw, angle grinder, belt sander, handsaw, wire cutters and other cutting implements
• Battery tab spot welder for building Li-ion packs
• 20V cordless drill/driver, 45 Nm, 2 speeds (0-430 / 0-1500 rpm), 1.5-13 mm chuck, 2 batteries, 59 piece bit set
• Precision rotary tool (Dremel class)
• 2000 W heat gun
• Manual precision drill set for fine drilling
• Precision hand saw set for plastic, wood and metal
• Hand file set, wood and metal
• Precision screwdrivers (hex 0.7 to 3 mm, ball-end hex, Torx TX2 to TX10) plus 10 micro bits and 2 bit handles, professional grade
• Ball-end hex key set, 1.5 to 10 mm, plus assorted loose and folding hex keys
• Tubular wrench set 10 to 24 mm with ratchet handle, and a ratcheting wrench
• Full pliers complement: flat, needle nose, round nose, J-tip, blunt cutters, wire cutters, angled small pliers
• Deburring tool, tube cutter, junior hacksaw, adjustable wrench, hammer, scrapers, 2 spirit levels
• Electric paint spray gun, 800 W, 900 ml, 66 l/h, plus a 410 W turbine spray system (gun missing)
• Manual badge/button press with round die set, plus blank pin stock
• Handheld mini sewing machine
• Various other metal processing implements

Chemistry & materials

• Spin coater with a 24 V, 40 l/min dry membrane vacuum pump for substrate holding, suitable for thin-film deposition demonstrations
• Digital biology microscope with hot-swappable lenses, up to 750x
• Educational microscope, 100x / 400x / 1200x, with specimen kit
• Assorted glassware: test tubes, flasks, funnels, tubing, stoppers
• Two-part cyanotype sun-print chemistry for photographic processes
• Test tubes/flasks/specialized glassware of various shapes and sizes 1400W electric furnace (up to 1200C)

Media & Content Production

• Wireless microphone kit
• 3 axis smartphone gimbal stabilizer
• Studio lighting kit: 2 lamps with softboxes, stands and transport case
• RGB lamp for colour work, condenser microphone, secondary mic pair, tripod
• Reference headphones
• Displays for events and demos: 32 inch smart TV, 40 inch LCD, portable set
• A4 pouch laminator
• Mini thermal printers
• Conference microphone
• Reference microphone (for callibration purposes)

Soldering, rework and board repair

• Professional cartridge soldering station (C245 handle), the lab's main precision iron, with a stock of knife, chisel and misc. C245 tips
• 200 W secondary soldering station
• 16 x 30 W soldering irons for mass-soldering sessions and bootcamps
• USB-C portable soldering iron
• Hot air rework station for SMD work
• Solder paste applicator (for stencil work)
• 200 W SMD reflow hot plate for reflow, desoldering and board repair
• 150 W, 3 stage bench fume extraction
• Stereo soldering microscope on metal base, with heat-resistant probe, silicone mat and helping-hands stand
• 4 digital inspection microscopes, one with HDMI output, one handheld with flip-up LCD
• Gooseneck macro endoscope/borescope probe for board inspection
• PCB work-holding fixture for repair work
• Manual solder sucker with silicone tube tip
• Stencil solder paste application: 5 metal paste spreaders, leaded and lead-free paste (Sn63/Pb37, Sn99/Cu0.7/Ag0.3, Sn96.5/Ag3/Cu0.5)
• Precision tweezer stock: titanium alloy, heat-resistant ceramic (non-conductive), and general-purpose sets
• Vacuum and spring component pickers for SMD placement
• 6 crimping tools covering JST/Dupont contacts, ferrules and heavy lugs
• Semi-automatic and manual wire strippers
• 2 x 15 L, 400 W ultrasonic cleaners for board and part cleaning
• 12 V UV eraser for windowed EEPROMs
• UV lamp for resin curing

Metrology and technical drawing

• Digital caliper, 150/40 mm, DIN 862 standard
• 2 secondary calipers for rough work
• 3 m measuring tape, rulers
• Precision geometry set for circular technical drawing

Compute, network and embdedded

• Workstation: Core Ultra 9 285K, 32 GB DDR5-6000, Intel Arc B580 GPU
• 6 laptops for cohort use (mostly Intel 10th gen, 16 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD)
• 4 mini PCs and thin clients (ARM, Atom, Celeron OPS, Mac Mini i7)
• Raspberry Pi 5 8 GB configured as a ROS 2 learning environment, with active cooling and printed enclosure
• 2 iPads, one wall-mounted as an inventory terminal
• 2000 VA / 1600 W online double-conversion UPS for the server rack, 1 to 2 hours of runtime
• 650 VA line-interactive UPS for network gear
• Spare compute parts: CPU, RAM, M.2 SSDs, cooling fans, wireless cards
• Graphics tablet (professional pen tablet)
• A large selection of MCUs (including Raspberri PIs, ESP32s, various Nordic Semiconductor microcontrollers and much more)

Power

• 24 DC power adapters covering 5 to 53 V for bench and device use
• 140 W GaN USB-C PD charging brick, multi-port

Creative & Craft

• General craft stock: artist brushes, modelling clay, crepe paper, coloured card, calligraphy set, imitation gold leaf, jewellery findings, magnetic sheet, laminating pouches
• Self-adhesive label sheets and pin badge blanks

Facility

• 130 m2 open-access lab space
• 24,000 BTU air conditioning in the classroom
• Nitrile glove stock and protective eyewear
• Vintage/heritage display set: original Commodore 64 with peripherals, mini CRT TV, HP coaxial thermistor RF power mounts
• 2x dedicated power workstations (dual monitor)
• 2x mini workstations
• 2x spare monitors (in case you want to setup your own workstation)
• Smart Whiteboard (ARM processor 8Gb RAM)
• Retro games station (Nintendo64-like + Batocerra system)
• Servers for hosting