TechShop - Fully Equipped Membership Workshop
November 5th, 2007 by Paul Crowe - "The Kneeslider"
There’s a workshop out in Menlo Park, California, TechShop, that runs a lot like a health club. They installed all of the high end equipment you would need to build most anything you can think of but would cost too much and take up too much space for the average person to buy. Then they charge a membership fee to a limited group of builders who get full access to make whatever they like. Other members and staff are available to offer help and advice when someone runs into a problem, plus there are classes where you can learn to use tools you’re unfamiliar with.
What kind of tools do they have? There are Bridgeport milling machines, metal lathes, every kind of welder, industrial sewing machines, sheet metal brakes, CNC vinyl cutters, metal cutters and grinders, a full size vehicle shop, a complete electronics lab, there’s even a 3D plastic printer! There are english wheels, laser cutters and engravers, sand blasting cabinets, plasma cutters, powder coating equipment, a bin wall with parts and materials and much, much more. Wow!
TechShop was started by Jim Newton, former builder of BattleBots and a former MythBuster. Membership is $30 for a day pass, $100 per month or $1200 per year. There’s only one location now but they are looking to expand to other cities, most of which seem to be on the west coast but I can’t believe this concept wouldn’t be a hit almost anywhere it opened up. I bet more than a few of you would be interested in something like this. I would join today if they had one nearby, … please!
Guy Kawasaki did a very nice write up with a lot of detail, too, the above photos come from his visit.
Wouldn’t you know, one of our Australian readers pointed out this very cool California shop. Thanks, Dodgy!
Link: TechShop
Photos: Guy Kawasaki
Posted in Alternative thinking, Workshop & Tools
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9 Responses to “TechShop - Fully Equipped Membership Workshop”
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November 5th, 2007 at 11:39 am
Please open one in Comox, BC.
I will be the first to sign up with a years membership.
Please.
November 5th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
Industrial sewing machine! Electronics lab! 3-D Plastic Printer!
(plus everything else)
*head explodes*
November 5th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
what a great idea! One hell of a start up cost to open one of these though. Something out there for the learning do-it-yourselfer without ripping out their insides along with all the money inside their wallet.
November 5th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
There’s also the option of signing up for your local city college open-shop classes for much less dough. There’s only the problem with the WWII era machinery.
-todd
November 5th, 2007 at 4:52 pm
I would kill to have something like that locally!
November 5th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
It’s really a fantastic place. I stop in there at least once a week, even if I don’t have any specific project to work on. They’ve got classes that are any gearhead’s dream: carbon fiber, CAD, CNC, lathing, milling, 3D printing, and more are added nearly each time I go. The staff are knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and friendly. I can’t sing enough praises of techshop and what it does.
November 6th, 2007 at 4:55 am
howcum no one thought of this 20 years ago! for guys like me in apartments without a workshop, woodwork especially, this would be cheap mental therapy.
some entrepreneur with a few bucks should take this idea country wide, canada first. winter nights up here really suck!
November 6th, 2007 at 8:00 am
There’s something like this is Fairfield, Ohio (near Cincinnati) called Painters Lane. It doesn’t have quite as high end machinery, but its the same concept (lifts, welders, paint booth, sand blasting) and it is way cheaper.
November 6th, 2007 at 11:22 am
When I started fooling with bikes in the early ’60s, just out of high school, our ideas were always bigger than our skills or our toolbox. A retired guy in the next town had a basement full of tools, and he’d handle the welding and machining we needed for a few bucks. It made all the difference. Today I have lots of tools, but I’d still join a TechShop here in the Puget Sound area.