I'd like to pass along a press release from one of my favorite Silicon Valley start-ups. It's a place you can go to make chips... but I'd better explain that.
The Dimension 3D printer at TechShop in Menlo Park, Calif.
(Credit: TechShop)A lot of people do woodworking at home. The equipment is moderately priced and there's plenty of support available from TV shows such as Norm Abram's New Yankee Workshop on PBS and a variety of woodworking shows on the DIY Network.
But for those of us who like working with metal instead of wood, things aren't so simple. The equipment, for example, is much more expensive. Wood lathes start at just a few hundred dollars. Metal lathes capable of working similar-size objects are several times more expensive. A full-size milling machine-- for which there is no woodworking equivalent--can cost from $3,000 up to $30,000 with computer control. And metalworking can be more dangerous, with sparks, flames, and sharp bits of metal getting underfoot. It's tough doing this kind of work in a garage, though a lot of people do so safely.
And there are no TV shows to help, since most woodworking techniques don't translate to metalworking. So metalworking hobbyists get by with Web sites and hobbyist magazines such as The Home Shop Machinist. And, of course, they get together and share information in person. Often, hobbyists will share their machines and do work for each other.
But that only goes so far. If you want formal instruction from someone trained in metalworking, you generally have to sign up for classes and shop time at a community college, and those courses are usually intended as job training for professional machinists. Plus, when you're not taking classes, you usually can't get access to their shops for your own projects.
Someone's finally trying to solve this problem for the hobby metalworkers of the world: TechShop, a public-access workshop in Menlo Park, Calif. I signed up for a membership before TechShop even opened, but I've had so little time at this job that I haven't started any projects there.
Fortunately for TechShop, a lot of people in the San Francisco Bay Area have had time to spend there. TechShop has (or plans to get) a long list of industrial tools for its current 15,000-square-foot shop. There are lathes, milling machines, welding equipment, and esoteric items including the Dimension 3D printer shown above.
TechShop holds multiple training classes for its tools every week--not just in metal cutting, milling, and welding, but in laser cutting and etching, making things from carbon fiber, and even industrial sewing and embroidery. So pretty much whatever you want to do, but can't do in your garage, you can learn how to do it at TechShop.
TechShop has been so popular--with customers and investors--that by the middle of next year, there will be 10 more TechShops. That press release I mentioned has a list:
- Los Angeles
- Sacramento, Calif.
- San Diego, Calif.
- San Francisco
- Sunnyvale, Calif.
- Orlando, Fla.
- Durham, N.C.
- Portland, Ore.
- Austin, Texas
- Seattle
The Sunnyvale location will be perfect for me. That is, whenever I get some spare time...
Oh, right, I was going to explain that lame pun I opened with.
Remember my little piece on the phrase "Speeds and Feeds" back in June? Well, when a cutting tool advances through a metal workpiece on a lathe or milling machine, the little curls and bits of metal that are removed by the tool are called "chips." So now you know.
InGrid's new Digital Home Protection system starts at $199.
(Credit: InGrid)The DIY home security market is one of those fast-growing markets you don't hear that much about. But trust me, it's hot, and InGrid, one of the leading developers of digital home protection services, has entered the fray with the announcement today of the direct to consumer availability of its Digital Home Protection system.
According to the release, "The next generation in home security uses portable, digital technology and fully integrated broadband providing a nearly impossible to defeat system. Each InGrid kit comes with quick, easy step-by-step instructions and illustrations that guide installation and activation in less than 90 minutes. The system also streams up-to-the-minute weather forecasts, keeping homeowners aware of what's going on outside of their home. The sleek design of the InGrid wireless products changes the way home protection looks while the "grid of protection" changes the way it operates."
The typical custom-installed home security system starts around $4,000 and moves up from there. The good news for the do-it-yourself crowd is that this system starts at $199 for a "Basic Kit" kit that covers 1,500 square feet and $299 for a "Home Kit" that covers 2,500 square feet. The not-so-good news is to get those prices you have to subscribe to InGrid's 24-7 monitoring service, which runs $29.99/month. That's the standard rate for these types of monitoring services (I know, I pay for one myself), but at least the upfront costs are much lower.
I don't want to bore you with descriptions of all the components of the system, but if you want more info, check out InGrid's Web site.
Nifer Fahrion is someone who doesn't mess around when she's interested in something.
Rather, she'll put her heart and soul into what she's doing, and she is well known in the San Francisco alternative arts scene for her involvement with one crazy, wonderful activity after another.
Last year, at Maker Faire 2006, Fahrion took a felting class, that is, lessons on how to craft things out of felt.
She fell in love with the medium.
In the succeeding months, Fahrion took to playing with felt on her own, and developed enough of a proficiency with the fabric that she decided to start a small business selling some of her creations.
Nifer Fahrion poses with her felt Flying Spaghetti Monster
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)Now, she is at this year's Maker Faire selling her wares, what she calls NifNaks. Among her whimsical goods are small Flying Spaghetti Monsters, little mushrooms and morels--which I have to say are among the cutest things I've ever seen--and all kinds of other silly items.
But I was just struck by the idea of someone taking an idea from last year's Maker Faire and turning it into a business that she effectively unveiled publicly at this year's event.
But given that it is Maker's Faire, and that this is thousands of people showing off their "maker" cred, I shouldn't be surprised. And in fact, there are no doubt many more such example.
Yay makers!
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