I recently posted a reference to TechShop in another thread and it occurred to me that other people here that might not have read that thread would be interested.

Basically, it's a membership-based fully stocked workshop. They have things from power drills to bandsaws to plasma cutters to CNC millers to soldering irons to rapid prototyping machines.

There are only a few open right now, but they're working on more, and the one going to be near me just sent out an email in regards to their charter membership promotion.

It's a very cool idea and worth checking out if you're at all interested in making things.

That's a great idea. Durham is a little too far from me to make it worthwhile, though. I hope they open one up here, though. The DC area has a few "tech corridors" with enough people that could support something like this.

Yeah, I'm astonished (and pleased) that Durham is in the first batch of expansion before much larger metro areas.

You know, with one of these, one could produce facias...

http://www.carvewright.com/

Sears sells them too:

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00921754000P

Before anyone points out that this is a woodworking machine, let me say that I've made lots of aluminum stuff on wood tools.

Thanks, Bitt. I've signed up for their Seattle mailing list. Looking forward to hearing more about them. It's a brilliant idea.

At that price, you could be a member at a TechShop for a year and a half and use their tools that are designed for metal and also be able to anodize it, or powder-coat it, or whatever. Of course, your closest Sears might be just a little closer than your closest TechShop.