Techshop

I’ve been involved with TechShop now for a few months so finally I feel I can write an in depth review and hopefully give you a good idea on how TechShop works. I knew very little about how the business worked when I first started coming here but knew the basic idea is you pay a monthly fee like a gym membership to use their tools.
A little bit about my background… I am an engineer and always have tinkered with tools and projects all my life. Some of the tools at TechShop I already have at home but the majority of them I don’t have. As a «hands on» type of engineer I can say this place is a dream come true. It can be pricey which I’ll talk more about later, but in my opinion it can be well worth it. If you have an idea /​invention you want to test out and see if it could be used in the mass market this is a great place to prototype it. It’s also a great place for a hobbyist who wants to make custom parts and possibly sell them for profit. I think the place is great for a variety of people including artists, engineers, and tinkerers. They teach you the basics of each machine (for a fee, will discuss later) so there’s no need to be intimidated. The other TechShop members are generally very friendly and are happy to discuss the projects they are working on if you’re interested. It’s a great place to get new ideas.
The Detroit TechShop location is in Allen Park but a stone’s throw from the Ford Automotive proving grounds in Dearborn and their engineering center. In fact the building TechShop leases in Allen Park is owned by Ford, and so there is a special partnership going on in this location with Ford. If you are a Ford employee you will get the benefit of a very nice discount on your monthly membership fee. Students and Veterans also have special discounted rates. I don’t fall in any of those categories, so I can tell you that there are specials on memberships throughout the year including black Friday and New Years. If you take a free tour, which take place without reservation at the top of every hour, you will get a coupon code for membership at the end of the tour which is one of the best membership deals out there. In 2013 the tour coupon code in my opinion was better than the holiday deals, and that is what I ended up using to begin my membership there.
The tools are great and there’s a wide variety of them. Not just hammers and vices which they of course have… but I was attracted to this place initially for their 3D printers that I wanted to learn more about. As it turns out I learned a lot about those but also fell in love with the laser engraving tool. These are amazing machines and you can engrave (and depending on material also cut) wood, some plastics, glass, aluminum, soap, stone, fabric, and more. TechShop Detroit has 3 of these laser engravers and potentially getting a 4^th machine soon. They are used almost all day long.
What other kinds of equipment does TechShop have? At the Detroit location they have a lot, and this is not a complete list but here goes: Metal shop tools including CNC milling machine (Tormach), lathes, MIG welders, TIG welders, spot welders, shear, english wheel, hole punch, corner punch, finger brake… for wood shop they have planers, routers, table saw, shopbot CNC routers… 3D printer (currently have a Makerbot Replicator 2) and a 3D scanner… garage stuff like a car lift… and a huge waterjet cutter than can cut through thick steel and even granite. They have a large vinyl cutter and screen printing jig for T-​shirts, CNC embroidery machines, sandblaster, paint booth, powder coat booth, and a couple ovens for curing the powders. I’m sure I missed a few things.
So let’s talk about use of the equipment. Many of the machines like laser engravers, 3D printers, powder coat booths, shop bots, etc need to be reserved by calling TechShop and getting on the reservation calendar. This system works pretty well as you can see the current reservation of any machine on their web site. TechShop is open daily 9 am to midnight so you can usually get time on a machine when you need to. All machines EXCEPT the laser machines can be reserved in up to 4-​hour long blocks. Laser machines can be reserved in 2 hour blocks. This works fine and I’ve had no problems with it. I kind of like this method because it forces you to commit to a time window. That makes me prepare my project ahead of time; I get my raw materials gathered, any computer files I need etc then once I get to TechShop it’s all business. It’s not like I’m screwing around in my basement on something. When I’m at TechShop, I’m there to work on a specific job and complete it within a time window. For me, that works great.
There is a limit on the size of your review… so check out my «update» which is just the rest of my review of TechShop Detroit. See it at

Do you need to weld something but don’t have a welder or know how to use it? Ditto for woodworking, metal working, sewing, laser cutting, and the list goes on and on.
If you need to build something and don’t want to invest thousands of dollars for one too, check out TechShop. They will teach you how to use the tool and you are on the road for building a giant fire-​breathing monster for a holiday parade.
Also, the handicapped bathroom is huge. It’s like a mini office.