Since Maker Faire I’ve been fascinated with the burgeoning variety of hobby spaces where tinkerers gather. Begun typically after a chance meeting of a few enthusiasts, the first period of time is often spent meeting periodically at a local coffee shop with free wifi. The ambitions bloom but financial resources are always a constraint. Finally, enough people want to make it happen and they band together to fund the lease of a space.
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Twenty five years ago I graduated from undergraduate with a degree in Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering … and left to spent a career in information services. Recently I learned about new fabrication tools (3D printing, laser cutting, CNC milling) and became intrigued. So much did I want to understand this new landscape of production technology that I decided to invest six weeks of my life at TechShop San Francisco.
TechShop is a sort of health club of tools. You pay a monthly membership fee and for that you can use their workshop as much as you like. What tools do they have? Pretty much everything under the sun. Can you just walk in and start using any tool? No, before you can do much of anything you have to take classes on safety and basic use. With that as my reality I defined my plan.
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This trip was special. On this trip I was joined not only by my daughters Courtney and Kelsey but also by my wife Beth! When the lure is San Francisco and it’s snowy cold back home then I guess they can be coaxed.
They came in two waves toward the end of my time at TechShop.
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