Forums
Active forum topics
Blogs
Recent blog posts
Scheduled Classes
Monday Feb 6th
Tuesday Feb 7th
Wednesday Feb 8th
Thursday Feb 9th
Saturday Feb 11th
Sunday Feb 12th
Tuesday Feb 14th
Wednesday Feb 15th
Thursday Feb 16th
Saturday Feb 18th
Sunday Feb 19th
Tuesday Feb 21st
Wednesday Feb 22nd
Thursday Feb 23rd
Friday Feb 24th
Saturday Feb 25th
Sunday Feb 26th
Tuesday Feb 28th
Wednesday Feb 29th
Thursday Mar 1st
Saturday Mar 3rd
Sunday Mar 4th
Monday Mar 5th
Thursday Mar 8th
Saturday Mar 10th
Sunday Mar 11th
Tuesday Mar 13th
Thursday Mar 15th
Sunday Mar 18th
Monday Mar 19th
Saturday Mar 24th
Sunday Mar 25th
Thursday Mar 29th
Friday Mar 30th
Could use a little advice
I'm an engineer at an entertainment laser manufacturer. We're looking to start building our own housings instead of buying them from someone else for a new product. I have 5 years of past experience with metalworking, but unfortunately no shop in which to do it. For production we would make the investment in a bandsaw, TIG and mill for the shop but for prototyping 2 or 3 units it's not even close to cost effective. I was recently in the Raleigh area for a business trip and stopped in to see the place and immediately fell in love with it, the problem is that I'm in based Maryland. Do you folks know of anywhere within 150 miles of central MD like techshop? Alternatively I could just spend a few days in Raleigh, but the problem there is the SBU scheduling so that I can get certified on the equipment. I understand that the SBU's are required, for good reason, no matter your experience level, are non-negotiable and I have no problems or arguments with that at all, but I was wondering in if a situation like this I could pay extra to have one on one SBU sessions on one day instead of waiting for the stars to align for all the SBU's I need to be available in a one week span.
Any guidance? Thanks!
Yes, we can
We can work with you on this.
But first, no I do not know of any other similar facility in your area. Or much of anywhere else for that matter.
We can do one on one classes and in some circumstances you actually can prove proficiency on some things. One on one classes are about double the price for an individual. To prove proficiency, there will still be a charge, but it will be less than the SBU and shorter. Bottom line is that you must know how we do things here for safety reasons. I just did a one on one TIG welding proficiency for a guy and even though he was an incredible welder, he did several things wrong by TechShop standards.
Most of our SBU classes are NOT about teaching you to become an expert on that machine. They are to teach you SAFETY and BASIC Use of the machine. Many "experts" with many tools are far from the safest operators you would run across. For this reason it is usually a good idea to just take the class.
If you need to talk more about this, you can do it here or write me directly at scott at techshoprdu dot com
Thanks,
Scott
I'd add that if you're
I'd add that if you're scheduling a one on one class, we could put the class on the public calendar. Odds are good that someone else would sign up, and then it would be the normal price. We'd be happy to schedule a block of classes whenever is convenient for you. In general we like to do evening classes and weekend classes, which is most convenient for our members, but we have had daytime classes during the week fill up as well.
"Bottom line is that you must
"Bottom line is that you must know how we do things here for safety reasons."
Completely understood and I wouldn't have it any other way. Thank you very much for the response. I'll get designs finalized up here and give you guys a call to work something out. Thanks!