Ultimate tinkering tools

[Alan in Little Washington]

For those of you who do serious tinkering and dabble in metal and other media but don't have the tools, there is a great place to go where you have access to all sorts of stuff. It is called TechShop. It is a member's only shop for amateurs and professionals alike that is filled with all sorts of equipment and machines- from metal working, painting, powder coating, sewing, electronics lab, and even woodworking. They have annual and monthly memberships. Membership is a bit pricey, but when you need some time on a four axis CNC mill or plasma cutter for a project or prototype, it is the place to go and is much cheaper than contracting out the work if you can do it yourself. They give classes on a wide range of machines and processes and also provide personal training, consulting and prototyping services to members for a fee. I took a tour of a TechShnop in the SF Bay area. As you might expect, that one was heavy on electronics design, fabrication, and testing equipment.

TechShops are opening around the country and there is one now at 5905 Triangle Drive. Check it out. Even if you have no intention of joining, it is worth a visit.

 

[Mike Davis]

This comes up from time to time and it is a great way to learn and get to use tools beyond your budget.

We have also discussed forming something similar for our members, but it hasn't caught on or had the right champions yet.

Maybe someday...

 

[Outa Square]

For those of you who do serious tinkering and dabble in metal and other media but don't have the tools, there is a great place to go where you have access to all sorts of stuff. It is called TechShop. It is a member's only shop for amateurs and professionals alike that is filled with all sorts of equipment and machines- from metal working, painting, powder coating, sewing, electronics lab, and even woodworking. They have annual and monthly memberships. Membership is a bit pricey, but when you need some time on a four axis CNC mill or plasma cutter for a project or prototype, it is the place to go and is much cheaper than contracting out the work if you can do it yourself. They give classes on a wide range of machines and processes and also provide personal training, consulting and prototyping services to members for a fee. I took a tour of a TechShnop in the SF Bay area. As you might expect, that one was heavy on electronics design, fabrication, and testing equipment.

TechShops are opening around the country and there is one now at 5905 Triangle Drive. Check it out. Even if you have no intention of joining, it is worth a visit.

I've seen this discussed here before but never the less I am fascinated by the concept. I like the description on the website "You can think of TechShop like a fitness club, but with tools and equipment instead of exercise equipment. It is sort of like a Kinko's for makers, or a Xerox PARC for the rest of us. "

The alternative is getting to know folks that own this type of equipment; I am fortunate that my circle is heavy into the body work and non-cnc metal working machines. I need to meet up with some folks with a four axis cnc mill and plasma cutter. Because I don't have much to offer in return I would rather buy access than mooch although i am good about replacing consumables.

 

[MikeH]

I had actually considered doing something like this in one of the closed down textile mills around Charlotte. I had also considered converting one into a rentable workshop space with varying sizes of space available. We would have a large dust collection system that everyone could hook into and plenty of power per workshop space. I never got past the idea stage though.

 

[merrill77]

TechShop rocks! I took the ShopBot class at their original location (which was about 2 minutes from my office) a few years ago. They offer a lot of classes at very reasonable prices. It is a great idea if the budget, location and hours meet your needs. The woodshop has (had?) many of the big power tools you would like...but was a bit lacking for the tools many of us would want for building furniture (hand planes, resaw fence, dovetail jigs, etc).

They used to have their own website with a list of equipment, but now it directs back to the main TechShop site, which is mostly useless. http://techshoprdu.com/

 

[Alan in Little Washington]

I wonder what their annual liability insurance rates run?