Does anyone know if there is in existence in the New York City area spaces that one can pay a rental fee to come in and use wood and metal working machines and perhaps welding equipment.
I have always thought this would be a great business, especially for people (like myself) who just cant afford nor have the space to house all the equipment in my home.
I looked for something like this in Atlanta and never had much success, apart from the individuals who were willing to let me use a private shop. I figure the liability insurance for this type of business must be prohibitively expensive.
I think i remember hearing about such a facility somewhere in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. i haven't been able to locate a link yet for that facility but maybe this might work.
i'll keep looking for the one in brooklyn. You may also want to look into one of the universities in the area with such facilities. a few years back my alma mater used to offer a 'membership', for lack of a better term, for people to pay for time in our wood/metal shop. dunno if you were required to be alumni but its always worth asking.
I have been thinking about this for years also... i mean who wants a basement full of tools you only need like 20 days a year... alas I enquired with a business guy about doing it and he told me liability issues make it tricky... still i would love to get something like this going. ditto for do it yourself CNC and Lasercutting machines..
I don't know if this is exactly what you may be interested in as this organization seems more 'co-op employment' oriented but its still an outlet to investigate. I googled them and found a few articles...seems to me that these folks rent space to artists/craftsmen and then often work collectively.
Speaking as someone with absolutly no legal training or intuition, I'd think you could create the mother of all liability waivers to protect this type of operation. But still, who wants to be there when someone gets wrapped up in a lathe, or sneezes and looses a thumb on the table saw.
or you could contact the ACS Bronx congregate care facility. I googled them and found out that evidently they have created a woodshop in their recent facility renovation. You would be doing a good thing by mentoring youth while at the same time pursuing your woodworking. -Certainly a stretch here but it could be a flexible, worthwhile and rewarding experience for any designer.
did you ever find anything at all in atlanta? i need a place to weld some things and my apartments aren't too keen on the idea of me doing it in my study... neither is my wife.
I searched for a while in atlanta, and the only thing close that i found was some guy from highland hardware willing to "give lessons" at his home shop, for a fee of course. not exactely the best set up if you are more interested in getting in the shop and "experimenting". in a pinch i've used the shop at GA tech. never went to school there, but if you go in and act like you're supposed to be there, no one will say anything to you.
Yeah, I found the the "lesson based" model at Highland and a couple other hardware stores around town. Like you said, unless you really need a new birdhouse or picture frame it's not that useful.
Black Bat, have you ever seen the Advanced Wood Products Lab at Ga Tech? It's some kind of collaboration with Georgia Pacific I think. Hands down the most bad ass shop I've ever seen. Unfortunately you have to be either a student or an industry-type in need of training to get in there. Way underused in my opinion.
never been in the advanced lab, i was refering to the old shop all the arch students use. maybe my firm will get some ga tech interns this summer that could get me in. i love to play with some cnc stuff for an afetrnoon or two.
When I was an undergrad at MICA, there was old lady who kept taking the same continuing-ed ceramics class to have access to the kilns, wheels, and glaze room. The samre strategy could work if there is a decent institution.
I never found anything like were talking about here. What kind of welding are you looking to do? I know a couple people with some welding rigs that might help you out.
i'm gonna jump in and ask if anyone knows of something like this in seattle? i gotta wonder about the liability waiver too. it must be a mutha of one as frit said.
just looking to do some welding with steel, (though i would love to try out welding aluminum). mostly just flat pieces for what i am working on now. no more than 1/2" thick.
I could not believe how simple the waiver was for The Steel Yard. I was expecting several pages to read through at least and the entire application including the waiver was on a single page…
isn't atlanta the home of the "home depot" ... they should just franchise it as an add on next to all the big box stores.. slogan.. "its like kinkos for wood"..
Rental Wood/Metal Shops
Does anyone know if there is in existence in the New York City area spaces that one can pay a rental fee to come in and use wood and metal working machines and perhaps welding equipment.
I have always thought this would be a great business, especially for people (like myself) who just cant afford nor have the space to house all the equipment in my home.
Any ideas?
This does not really help you down in NYC... but in Providence we have The Steel Yard.
That is exactly what I am looking for in the Los Angeles area as well, does anyone know of something similar in SoCal?
I looked for something like this in Atlanta and never had much success, apart from the individuals who were willing to let me use a private shop. I figure the liability insurance for this type of business must be prohibitively expensive.
Well north of you is The Crucible in Oakland.
I think i remember hearing about such a facility somewhere in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. i haven't been able to locate a link yet for that facility but maybe this might work.
http://www.ywcanyc.org/csl/woodworking.html
i'll keep looking for the one in brooklyn. You may also want to look into one of the universities in the area with such facilities. a few years back my alma mater used to offer a 'membership', for lack of a better term, for people to pay for time in our wood/metal shop. dunno if you were required to be alumni but its always worth asking.
I have been thinking about this for years also... i mean who wants a basement full of tools you only need like 20 days a year... alas I enquired with a business guy about doing it and he told me liability issues make it tricky... still i would love to get something like this going. ditto for do it yourself CNC and Lasercutting machines..
Awesome idea!!
I don't know if this is exactly what you may be interested in as this organization seems more 'co-op employment' oriented but its still an outlet to investigate. I googled them and found a few articles...seems to me that these folks rent space to artists/craftsmen and then often work collectively.
http://www.gmdconline.com/
Speaking as someone with absolutly no legal training or intuition, I'd think you could create the mother of all liability waivers to protect this type of operation. But still, who wants to be there when someone gets wrapped up in a lathe, or sneezes and looses a thumb on the table saw.
Still wish someone would set it up though.
or you could contact the ACS Bronx congregate care facility. I googled them and found out that evidently they have created a woodshop in their recent facility renovation. You would be doing a good thing by mentoring youth while at the same time pursuing your woodworking. -Certainly a stretch here but it could be a flexible, worthwhile and rewarding experience for any designer.
Frit,
did you ever find anything at all in atlanta? i need a place to weld some things and my apartments aren't too keen on the idea of me doing it in my study... neither is my wife.
I searched for a while in atlanta, and the only thing close that i found was some guy from highland hardware willing to "give lessons" at his home shop, for a fee of course. not exactely the best set up if you are more interested in getting in the shop and "experimenting". in a pinch i've used the shop at GA tech. never went to school there, but if you go in and act like you're supposed to be there, no one will say anything to you.
Yeah, I found the the "lesson based" model at Highland and a couple other hardware stores around town. Like you said, unless you really need a new birdhouse or picture frame it's not that useful.
Black Bat, have you ever seen the Advanced Wood Products Lab at Ga Tech? It's some kind of collaboration with Georgia Pacific I think. Hands down the most bad ass shop I've ever seen. Unfortunately you have to be either a student or an industry-type in need of training to get in there. Way underused in my opinion.
Any shop with an observation deck must be doing something right.
never been in the advanced lab, i was refering to the old shop all the arch students use. maybe my firm will get some ga tech interns this summer that could get me in. i love to play with some cnc stuff for an afetrnoon or two.
When I was an undergrad at MICA, there was old lady who kept taking the same continuing-ed ceramics class to have access to the kilns, wheels, and glaze room. The samre strategy could work if there is a decent institution.
momentum,
I never found anything like were talking about here. What kind of welding are you looking to do? I know a couple people with some welding rigs that might help you out.
i'm gonna jump in and ask if anyone knows of something like this in seattle? i gotta wonder about the liability waiver too. it must be a mutha of one as frit said.
frit,
just looking to do some welding with steel, (though i would love to try out welding aluminum). mostly just flat pieces for what i am working on now. no more than 1/2" thick.
I could not believe how simple the waiver was for The Steel Yard. I was expecting several pages to read through at least and the entire application including the waiver was on a single page…
isn't atlanta the home of the "home depot" ... they should just franchise it as an add on next to all the big box stores.. slogan.. "its like kinkos for wood"..
i'd at least by that t-shirt.
i don't know if this helps but...
http://www.emachineshop.com/
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