rent a shop

admin

I have had this idea for years and now I'm seeing these pop up around the country. the general idea is have people rent shop time and machine use. most places make a person take a course $$$ to learn how to proper use of the equipment then have access to the machines. what do you guys think of this. has anyone here used this service? here's some links to some of the shopshttp://www.techshop.ws/index.htmlhttp://www.rentashop.org/#
Reply:guess you like having a bunch of noobs  playing around with your tools and machinery..--------------------------------------------------------------www.becmotors.nlyup, I quit welding.. joined welder anonymous
Reply:It's not my money, but I know how "I" treat my equipment.  There was a local meat shop in my area that was like that.  Two people owned the building and all the equipment, the guys who "rented" the equipment apparently didn't take care of the equipment.  Long story short; the shop needs a new smoker...we are talking 10's of thousands of dollars.The shop is no longer in business because of this...
Reply:I've seen the trend to building things yourself in the past when the economy tanked. One of the big differences now is that many people never had shop classes in school, or tools at home to work with. In the past you could just go over to dads or gramps and work or borrow their tools. That group of people are getting older or have passed away. In many cases todays "dad" today never learned to work with his hands in shop in school, so he never acquired any tools of his own. With older people moving into these condo communities vs having their own home, there's no room for tools that only get used occasionally.When we were stationed out in Washington our base had a fully equipped wood shop and the sub base near by had a fully equipped auto shop among other things that were available for base personnel and their families to use, so it's not really a "new" idea..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:There is such a place in San Diego.  I have seen Maker Place featured on local television.  They have a web site.I have not personally visited them.I offer three choices: Good, Fast, & Cheap. You may pick two.Hobart AC/DC StikMate LXHarbor Freight AD HoodHarbor Freight Industrial Chop SawDeVilbis 20 Gallon, 5 HP Compressor
Reply:The SF Bay Area has one of these too, the Cruciblehttp://www.thecrucible.org/Very expensive thoughI've seen in Phoenix several "rental garages" for auto repair so idea's probably not new, just lots of "gottcha's"XMT304 (school)SP125+ (home)HF 4x6 BandsawGood judgement comes from experience and much of that comes from bad judgement.