Entrance to S.F. TechShop

At Fifth and Howard streets in San Francisco sits TechShop, part of a growing franchise made just for makers. TechShop is designed to have the convenience of a corporate gym mixed with the underground hacker mindset. During CNET's visit, an eclectic bunch of members--including policemen, entrepreneurs, and fashionistas--all huddled in the gym-size playground and took prototyping into their own hands.

TechShop, which opened a new location in San Jose, Calif., this past weekend, puts commercial-scale hacker spaces on the map.

CNET recently got a tour of the 15,000-square-foot San Francisco location led by co-founder Jim Newton. Like a gym membership, anyone can pay to play for $99 a month to use milling machines, welding equipment, and other tools like a 3D printer.

Here, Noah Chittim (right) works the front desk. He greeted us before kindly reminding us to wear safety glasses.