SAN FRANCISCO (AP)- In the tech-obsessed South of Market neighborhood that digital sensations like Twitter and Zynga call home,a newfangled workshop for would-be inventors blendsa startup sensibility with the area's historic manufacturing roots to give geeksa chance to get out from behind the keyboard.
Modeled after gyms, TechShop is attracting members who pay as little as $100a month to use industrial strength equipment to invent whatever they can imagine.
"Everybody on the planet has ideas for things they want to make," says TechShop founder Jim Newton, who wants to bring TechShops to cities across the country.
The 17,000-square-foot workshop is nestled in the middle of what was once an industrial hub where ironworks forged equipment for the Gold Rush and later ships during war time.
Housed on two floors ofa building that might otherwise have become loft condos, there are workshops for working with wood, metal, plastics and textiles, plus an electronics lab and computer design stations. Amida sea of workbenches, startups can rent offices by the month.
The biggest machine of all may bea huge contraption that shootsa thin slurry of water mixed with industrial gemstones at 1,800 mph to cut through thick slabs of stainless steel. Upstairs,a 3-D printer molds objects out of plastic straight froma digital file.
Perhaps the most popular tool at TechShop is the laser cutter,a $30,000 metal box delicate enough to engrave paper but powerful enough to cut thick leather. Chief executive Mark Hatch says one of TechShop 's most popular events is an evening called "Lasers and Beer." "The sequence is very important," Hatch jokes. (First the lasers, which they use to etch designs into glass mugs, ...
http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-03-28-Gym For Geeks/id-a5b09bfdfd2d478db4ef9e1cfe01eb5c
Modeled after gyms, TechShop is attracting members who pay as little as $100a month to use industrial strength equipment to invent whatever they can imagine.
"Everybody on the planet has ideas for things they want to make," says TechShop founder Jim Newton, who wants to bring TechShops to cities across the country.
The 17,000-square-foot workshop is nestled in the middle of what was once an industrial hub where ironworks forged equipment for the Gold Rush and later ships during war time.
Housed on two floors ofa building that might otherwise have become loft condos, there are workshops for working with wood, metal, plastics and textiles, plus an electronics lab and computer design stations. Amida sea of workbenches, startups can rent offices by the month.
The biggest machine of all may bea huge contraption that shootsa thin slurry of water mixed with industrial gemstones at 1,800 mph to cut through thick slabs of stainless steel. Upstairs,a 3-D printer molds objects out of plastic straight froma digital file.
Perhaps the most popular tool at TechShop is the laser cutter,a $30,000 metal box delicate enough to engrave paper but powerful enough to cut thick leather. Chief executive Mark Hatch says one of TechShop 's most popular events is an evening called "Lasers and Beer." "The sequence is very important," Hatch jokes. (First the lasers, which they use to etch designs into glass mugs, ...
http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-03-28-Gym For Geeks/id-a5b09bfdfd2d478db4ef9e1cfe01eb5c
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