TechShop is a membership-based workshop that provides inventors, tinkerers and do-it-yourselfers with access to tools and equipment, instruction and a community of creative people to build the things they have always wanted to make. Think of TechShop as a fitness club, but with CNC machines, lathes and band saws instead of elliptical trainers and treadmills. Founder Jim Newton also says it’s a safe place for inventors to make prototypes.
ID: If I’m a first-time inventor making a brand new prototype, how can TechShop help me?
JN: When you walk into TechShop, we don’t assume you know anything about the tools and machines we have in each shop.
Our Dream Coaches are on staff at all times to help you get started with your project and to guide you on the proper use of a tool or machine, material or technique.
We have lots of classes that teach you anything you need to know about a particular tool or machine, or a process, so that you can get up to speed as quickly as possible and get your project underway.
The TechShop atmosphere is designed to be non-judgmental, with no cliques or elitist attitudes. Everyone is very open and warm. I think it is absolutely the perfect and emotionally-safe environment in which to be an inventor.
ID: What are some of the most popular types of tools/equipment
TechShop members use?
JN: The Epilog laser cutters at TechShop are very popular with our members and our members are using them to make all sorts of amazing things and start businesses. I think these
machines are popular because you use them the same way you use a printer, but instead of printing on a page, the laser cutters engrave materials such as glass, tile, plastics, or anodized aluminum, or cut all the way through acrylic, paper, cloth, leather,
wood, paper and cardboard. They are really quite mesmerizing to watch.
After the laser cutters, I think the next most popular machines are the Jet milling machines and the Tormach CNC milling machine. Our members really love these. These mills are used
to machine metals including aluminum, steel, other metals and plastics.
You can drill and cut holes and slots, machine down a shoulder, or through the use of the powerful Autodesk Inventor software and the Tormach CNC milling machine, create intricate and organic shapes that would be difficult to machine by hand.
Woodworking is popular at TechShop, especially the 5’x9’ShopBot CNC wood router. TechShop members make the most amazing things with this system, and one of our members has launched a multi-million dollar business with the ShopBot at TechShop Menlo Park.
We recently added the Flowjet water jet cutter to our core equipment list, and once our members start using that machine, I know that it will become a huge favorite. It is a CNC machine that can cut 4’x 8’sheets up to 6 inches thick of just about any material including steel, plastic, carbon fiber and fiberglass, aluminum, wood, cork, glass, concrete, marble and leather. It uses a high-pressure jet of water and garnet to slice through these materials without effort.
We provide a complete spectrum of tools and software so you can complete your entire project without having to stop and go somewhere else. We have injection molding machines, automotive tools, electronics lab gear, and even sewing machines.
Altogether, we offer about $1 million worth of brand new tools and software to our members at every TechShop location.
ID: Talk to us about your expansion. I believe you have three shops in the Bay Area and one in Raleigh, N.C. How can you expand when we’re told we’re still in the lingering grips of a recession?
JN: Our first location opened in Menlo Park, Calif., in October of 2006. We have since opened TechShop Raleigh-Durham in Raleigh N.C., and TechShop San Francisco right downtown just a few months ago.
We opened TechShop San Jose in June and TechShop Detroit later this summer in conjunction with Ford Motor Company. We plan to open four additional locations this year, and eight more next year.
ID: What’s your favorite latest tool in the shop?
JN: My favorite tool is probably the Epilog laser cutter just because it gives such instant gratification. I love to work with steel, so I also like the Lincoln MIG welders we have at each TechShop location.
ID: What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever seen someone produce at TechShop?
JN: That’s a hard question. With about 1,500 active members across our entire network of locations, the range of projects that TechShop members are making just blows my mind.
But if I had to pick a few of the coolest projects I have seen at TechShop, I’d point to the lunar lander X-Prize entry, the homebuilt two-wheel self-balancing human transporter, the world’s fastest electric motorcycle, the world’s fastest soap box derby racer, the desktop gem-quality diamond making machine, and of course the phase-changing infant warming sleeping bag that is projected to save 100,000 babies lives in the Third World in the next five years. And those are all from just our Menlo Park location!
Visit www.techshop.ws
Editor’s note: This article appears in the July 2011 print edition.
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