

Inventors Wanted. Cool Tools Provided. - dpapathanasiou
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/business/11ping.html?ref=business&pagewanted=print

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andyking
Something very similar to this has popped up recently in Manchester -
<http://www.fablabmanchester.org/>

Unlike the one in the article, there's no subscription charge that I know of;
it's free to use at certain times (with the caveat that you might not always
be able to get onto the equipment you want to use) or you pay to reserve it at
other times of the week. It's partly funded by local authorities and
government and is in addition to another independent hacker space in the city
centre, MadLab.

This might be old news in the US, but I was really impressed with it when I
saw it. I'd never seen a 3D printer before!

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einarvollset
Techshop is great, though they should expanded or be more free with their
franchising rights so more locations could be open. I personally know 3 people
who's wanted to franchise and been told they're not interested. Shame.

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j_baker
Bigger != better

In fact, a lot of the time the inverse is true (smaller == better).

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einarvollset
Maybe not, but closer == better. Because they're tools..

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johnohara
For the equivalent of 2 years membership I can purchase an impressive array of
new and used shop tools and accessories and be well on my way.

Here is a good example of what a properly equipped desktop machine shop might
look like with the equivalent of 4 years membership.

<http://workshop.modelengines.info/shoppics.html>

My favorite is the lathe-mounted microscope.
<http://microscope.modelengines.info/taigmicroscope.html>

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aaronblohowiak
"an impressive array" is quite different from being able to go somewhere and
know it will just be there. Also, you don't have to worry about storing
everything in your limited space, and there is also a cultural aspect.
TechShop is the maker equivalent of a Gym. You could also buy a decent set of
freeweights for the cost of a gym membership.

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johnohara
Let's stay with your premise. Techshop is the maker equivalent of a
centralized mainframe for developers. You could also buy a laptop for the cost
of a membership.

My point is you need both. Home desktop (PC or machine shop) and access to
equipment and resources you can't build or afford yourself. In the case of
machine shops that means waterjets, plasma torches, cnc mills, etc. For
developers it means inexpensive hardware borne of economies of scale and high
quality open source software tools.

The reality is however, that the Techshop that opened in Beaverton, OR in 2009
has since closed.

In a sour economy you cancel the gym membership and buy a pair of running
shoes.

