Make: Online : TechShop - A place for Makers to work on their projects

Hey Makers! If you like to build stuff but you don't have the tools, equipment, space, or know-how, TechShop is for you! TechShop is a membership-based drop-in workshop in Menlo Park on the San Francisco peninsula that provides members with access to a full range of hand tools and machines to safely perform practically any task any DIY project. The equipment at TechShop includes welders, milling machines, lathes, drill presses, band saws, sheet metal equipment, a 3D printer and laser cutter, vacuum forming system, presses, an electronics lab, sandblaster, air tools, and just about every other tool that a Maker would ever need.

TechShop also offers a wide variety of classes for members and non-members of all ages and skill levels in topics including soldering, welding, machining, CAD, 3D printing, laser cutting and etching, electronics, robotics, hacking, Legos and VEX, programming, green materials and design, sheet metal fabrication, plastics, and so much more.

The most exciting part of TechShop is the community that is already springing up around it. With nearly a thousand people on the mailing list for membership and classes, and over a hundred people who want to teach classes at TechShop, there will be a lot of really smart and interesting people hanging out there all the time.

TechShop is throwing a Preview Party on Saturday, September 9, 2006 from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Attendees can tour the 15,200 square-foot TechShop building, participate in a variety of activities and demonstrations for kids and adults, meet some of TechShop's partners including Make Magazine, HdB Electronics, Metal Supermarkets, and TAP Plastics, and even take advantage of special early membership sales. Link.

TechShop
120 Independence Dr
Menlo Park, CA 94025
http://www.techshop.ws
info@techshop.ws
1-(800)-640-1975

Comments

Oldest comments listed first.

Posted by: tnash on August 29, 2006 at 10:41 AM

What a great idea! I wish there were something like this here in the Midwest where I live. Other than hand tools and a few small power tools, I don't have room for welders and machining equipment.

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Posted by: katre50 on August 29, 2006 at 10:52 AM

If they had this in NYC I would join so fast it'd make my checkbook spin.

Posted by: jswilson64 on August 29, 2006 at 11:04 AM

Wow. Where do I sign the petition to ask 'em to open in Dallas/Fort Worth? Places like this for working on your car were around in the '50s and '60s, slowly died out as liability claims rose. These guys probably have an ironclad waiver, something along the lines of, "Whatever happens to you inside our shop, in whatever manner it happens to you (including us maliciously doing it to you), is your own fault!"

I truly hope this business survives, flourishes, and spawns successful imitators!

Posted by: BrK on August 29, 2006 at 11:54 AM

Interesting, I've been thinking of starting something similar near Boston. I may have to go visit this place.

Posted by: Mesach on August 29, 2006 at 12:18 PM

Minneapolis!!!!!

Posted by: Stokes on August 29, 2006 at 12:42 PM

There used to be the Sparqs co-op machine shop in Boston, but it apparently shut down just before I moved here.

Posted by: viae on August 29, 2006 at 12:53 PM

Whoa. Envy.

Anyone know of something like this in the Northern Virginia and DC metro areas, but for cars?

I have a 1968 Camaro that I would like to work on myself, but I don't have the space or tools.

Posted by: robertadams1 on August 29, 2006 at 4:51 PM

Count me in for one of these opening in the Washington DC area- what a way to share out the costs of expensive shop stuff!

Posted by: gnomic00 on August 29, 2006 at 6:17 PM

I'd invest in one of these in Richmond (DC is too crowded!)

Posted by: cyenobite on August 30, 2006 at 11:19 AM

I've researched this a bit, and I've found (for whatever reason) they don't last. I wish this place all the luck, but I wonder why they don't last. I'd join one in a heartbeat. I don't know why the big home tool companies don't catch onto this idea. Imagine a workshop connected to homedept, lowes, or a "snap-on" tool center, etc...

Posted by: Curley1930 on August 30, 2006 at 5:36 PM

I see where a lot of people need a place to work on their cars! When I was in the military I was NCOIC of the Auto Hobby Shop on the base I was stationed at.
When I got out of the military I opened my own shop but, found out the State/County College offered all the classes anyone would need to completely restore their car! When it came to R&D work on some of your special ideas/projects there was nothing available!

This TECH SHOP sounds like the perfect thing for Communities to look into. I'm sure there are lots of abandoned building with plenty of room for just this kind of operation. 1st. seek out a banker with the same kind of interest. 2nd. have the banker help fill out the necessary paperwork to apply for a GOVERNMENT GRANT. 3RD. Approach the banker about HIS firm funding it. 4RD KEEP IN MIND THE POSSIBILITY OF FRANCHISING THIS KIND OF OPERATION. I.E. "MEINIKE" , MCDONALDS ,ETC. GO TO IT, REMEMBER, YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT A LITTLE TIME BUT, IF IT CLICKS YOU COULD BE ON EASY STREET. HAM

Posted by: Curley1930 on August 30, 2006 at 5:37 PM