Could work.
In the Netherlands we had something like this for guys (and gills)
restoring their own car: A real garage with all the tools and a real car
mechanic making sure the 'tough jobs' got done in a proper way so you
end up with a working car.
But in the end they could not make it happen, although there were a lot
of people interested there was not enough income to keep that big garage
alive.
I have the feeling that a TechShop would end up the same. It looks real
good to be member of a TechShop, but there are already a lot of
non-commercial groups, most of the times payed by community money and/or
in a community building, providing this service to individuals. My dad
is a member of the local "Steam group" for something like 50 euro a
year. This is something most hobbyists will prefer; most of them have a
small mill, drill and/or lathe at home and for the more
advanced/big/heavy stuff they meet in their tool shop. The only catch is
that you need to keep your own cutting tools (something I would always
do) to be sure that you have proper and sharp tools.
I think that for hobbyists the 1200 USD a year is a bit high, you can
buy a lot of nice stuff for that kind of money, and for commercial use
you mostly need something to be done now so it's hard to rely on a
'public' service. I visited a number of local companies who have all
kind of weird stuff you would not expect over there. A small local shop
bought a water jet machine just because he needs things done now, fast,
and he can't wait for a larger shop to complete this for him.
Corporate membership sounds fun but if you have to pay your own
personnel to be there and do the job, I think it is cheaper to outsource
the whole stuff to a local tool shop. With the current economic
situation there are a lot of local tool shops asking for a job - prices
dropped drastically even to such a level that I have them done stuff for
my hobby projects ...
Regards,
Rob
Kirk Wallace wrote:
> This seems like a good idea. I don't know if they can make money at it
> though.
>
> http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/cls/1163029439.html
>
>
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