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TechShop: Geek Heaven

blog.guykawasaki.com — This is a great !!!

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  • komega, on 10/10/2007, -2/+32I pretty much live at this place. The price is very right if you want to use the equipment more than 4 times a month!!! I have already built several inventions, have done some heavy modification to machines, and have cranked out personalized gifts on the laser etching equipment.
    • namutatya, on 10/10/2007, -2/+3If you have a blog entry on this please point to it Komega. I would love to hear more
    • RBotros, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2This really _is_ a great exclamation mark
    • heavystone, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1LOL, can you BE more pathetic....this guy is a "fake", he registered just to brag about his own shop....
  • stephenrfleming, on 10/10/2007, -3/+10Makes me want to move to the Bay Area...
  • sinkwitz, on 10/10/2007, -16/+2This works for geek atheists too.
  • chasogle, on 10/10/2007, -6/+2Hope to get shop back in my daughters high school (Summit, go huskies) during their intercession,using techshop and parent volunteers
  • IreneD, on 10/10/2007, -1/+7If you need a place to get a prototype made, this is a fantastic place to get tremendous help! Take a tour and it will blow your mind- even if you are 'technologically impaired' and 'un-handy' as I am.
  • Luca1225, on 10/10/2007, -1/+19Thanks to the very friendly, professional, and helpful TechShop crew, I learned to mill metal and plastic. Not a bad accomplishment for a 65-year-old female artist who has spent a lifetime wary of heavy machinery. Quite a high, definitely condusive to becoming habit forming. A sure way to expand one's creative energies and ideas. I love TechShop!
    • Monkeybrains, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1It sounds like you had a great experience. Do you have a link to your art?
      • Luca1225, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0Yes, TechShop's truly a great place. Creative possibilities seem infinite. Thanks for asking about link to my art. None yet but working on it. New to web marketing of same. Thanks again.
  • wilcotangofox, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10If a branch ever opens up on the East Coast, or I gowestyoungman, this will be where I will be.

    For a geek interested in making things, and with experience around machinery, it's heaven.
  • fryguy1013, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I wish there were one of these in sacramento :(
    • TechShopJim, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6It looks like we will have a TechShop in Sacramento perhaps in as early as six months!
      • Guder, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2That's very cool news. I hadn't been able to do metal work for a while.
  • Riolent, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3I love that place! There are so many possibilities there!
  • Monkeybrains, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4I live on the wrong coast. That place looks amazing. I'd join one in a heartbeat. I'll just make do with my tiny shop in my garage for now.
  • RettaBear, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1This is so great for me because I want to learn a lot of things that would require equipment way beyond my budget or space. The classes I've taken have really helped spur my creative juices. I look forward to learning more!
  • Frances17033, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4Fantastic idea, although it's about 2800 miles too far away to be useful to me. I *so* wish there was a similar place on the East Coast...
  • lleanse, on 10/10/2007, -6/+4Techshop is a great place for families to work together on projects.
  • engtech, on 10/10/2007, -0/+15"This is a great !!!"

    That truly is the best news description possible for this story. That place looks so awesome.

    /me jealous
  • xt0ph3r, on 10/10/2007, -9/+2What a horrid description. How hard would it have been to write up a little summary? :/

    Only reason I clicked through was because I noticed it was on Guy Kawasaki's blog and therefore maybe worth a look.
  • kent1146, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3It kind of reminds me of Electrical and Computer Engineering Lab from undergrad. I never really cared for that place, as I would have rather been doing drugs or getting drunk than hang out in the ECE lab.

    But now that I pay my own tuition in grad school, I can see how a place like that would be really appealing.
  • kweee, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Yes it is a.
  • Genthree, on 10/10/2007, -1/+11While most of the comments above sound like schills, this really is a pretty awesome idea. It has the potential to become exorbitantly expensive as members begin to need more and more specialized equipment, but other than that I'm surprised it hasn't been done before.
  • pagemaster, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2yea if you want a cool place to work on your projects with a nearly unlimited budget then get into grad school. TRUST ME. even if you arent a student, if you are 'qualified' you can pick up a part time job as a researcher at your local university if there are openings. these types of positions usually entail you doing whatever it is you would do in your garage at home but with their money and help.
  • wassim2k, on 10/10/2007, -1/+7I wonder what their insurance policy is like. What if a geek cuts his finger off?
    • lovecups, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8They will just attach a robotic appendage made from a light aluminum alloy, that will allow the wearer to do all sorts of nifty stuff...very bond....or Luke....depending on what you get off on. :) How cool would it be if you had like a mini light saber attachment. hmm hot.
    • wiremonkeymommy, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1my thought exactly, even if the user signs every form twice, he can still sue and a judge will award!! on a more wistful note, this is truly geek heaven, and, because of the rural area I live in, this will never be available, I need a moment alone, I am sad.
    • justdbc, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Yes, insurance is a major expense. It didn't open until insurance was in place. The day after the insurance went live, a bunch of us "early believers" were in there with sledge hammers and so forth knocking out the dry wall left by the previous tennant. That was a fun day.
  • Onyxblaze, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Damnit this place is so close... I needed new pants anyways.
  • tapius, on 10/10/2007, -9/+1gay they should have a pick and place and reflow machine for making PCBs
    • justdbc, on 10/10/2007, -1/+0Well, there is a toaster oven. Seriously, I do SMT in a toaster oven in my garage. Works great, but tweezer pick/place sux major rox. I think they have a couple of undeployed X-Y mechanisms -- you're more than welcome to hack up a pick/place head and some software.
  • Goldbricker, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4That place blows me away. Hopefully it's an idea that will spread.
  • topgun553, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Same Thing Except Membership is free: http://thegeekgroup.org/
    • JeremyBanks, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1That doesn't look like the same thing, and their site says "Demonstrations are $5 per student per hour.".
      • topgun553, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1The demonstrations are for classes or groups that want to see the equipment they use. Membership is free, and their labs, tools, and expertise is free to all members.
  • rootneg2, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2hopefully I'm not overcommenting here, but does anybody know of other organizations/shops/venues like this elsewhere?

    I live in NYC and there are a few "communal shops" like TimesUp! that have the same idea as this for fixing/wrenching on your bicycle, and they are tremendously helpful (especially in a city where apartment space is so valuable...). But there is nothing anywhere near as diverse as TechShop....
  • GrimReeper, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2If only Australia didn't lag behind in everything that is awesome.
  • RdHrd138, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1This really is great, I hope they can open up more shops across the U.S. I would love to have to opportunity to mess around with some of the machines they have, especially one of those 3d printers. =)
  • r0ni, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2this stuff should be worldwide!
  • intense321, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2I find it interesting that all the comments here are, "I hope this spreads. Why isn't there one on the East Coast? This stuff should be worldwide. I hope *they* open more shops across the US, etc. etc." Why can't all of you just start your own? It wouldn't have to start out quite as elaborate as this one, but the demand is obviously there. A true geek would jump all over this, and make some money in the process, without asking someone else to do it. I am just not geeky enough to do this, or I would.
    • fryguy1013, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Not all of us can afford to quit our jobs and start up a company, or have experience doing business related things. I know that I'm a good programmer, but I'm a terrible businessman.
    • rootneg2, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Believe me, if I could, I would. But I think that for the most part it's an issue of capital. A venture like this needs a large initial investment (renting out the space, stocking some initial supplies, advertisement, renovation, etc.) in order to get off the ground.

      Most of the people that desperately need/want something like this do so precisely because of a lack of space/supplies/etc. whereas the only person that could star it up would need a surplus of those things.
  • jasonw22, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3As it says here: http://www.techshop.ws/Locations.html

    "We are looking at many other communities to determine ideal locations for future TechShop facilities, including San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Los Angeles, San Diego, Portland, Seattle, Phoenix, Austin, and lots of others. If you would be interested in opening a TechShop in your area, please be sure to join our mailing list and check the checkbox to indicate that you are interested in a TechShop location."

    When Jim Newton got the idea for Techshop, he went to the Maker's Faire with a signup sheet and nothing much else. From that signup sheet TechShop was born. You can read more about it here:
    http://www.inc.com/magazine/20070701/features-start-up-inventors-best-friend.html
  • Nateon, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Wow, a place like this right down the street and I haven't heard of it. Shows how much I get out.
  • cclark2007, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1With Jr. High and High Schools eliminating wood shop, metal shop, and auto shop in most school districts, we need a place kids can go and make sparks and sawdust.
  • Buntysharma123, on 07/04/2008, -0/+0hi hello, Hws u doing
  • MakJak, on 11/07/2008, -0/+1Yes, Good Place. But If you want to save money on your local shopping then visit http://www.clickmycoupon.com
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