OK, big news tonight. It will only be announced here for now.

Starting Saturday at 9 AM, provided Peter makes it in (there was a family something that might keep him away) you may schedule reservations for the Laser Cutter, ShopBot and Vinyl Cutter.

• The machines are not available for use until Monday.
• You can reserve them on Saturday and use them starting Monday.
• We do not have anyone scheduled for the front desk on Sunday so no reservations will be accepted on Sunday.

For Saturday, each member may only schedule one 2 hour session on each machine. We will then see how many members sign up for them. Perhaps we will remove the limitations immediately or perhaps we will let each member sign up again once they have used their scheduled time. Or possibly we will only let each member schedule 2 hours a week. It all depends on how many reservations we get. The goal right now is to let as many people as possible gain access to the machines. No one gets to monopolize them. Please bear with us as we move through this.

If spaces do not fill up, walk ins will be accepted or you may be able to come early or stay later than your reservation. And of course, we will allow more reservations too. We just want it to be fair for everyone. We will adjust as quickly as possible.

Starting Monday April 26, 2010, TechShop RDU will be open from 10 AM to 10 PM and of course, we will be open from noon to midnight on Thursdays.

We hope to see you here soon.

Thanks,

Scott

Just two days until Maker Faire and three days until TechShop RDU opens! (since I'm writing this at almost 1AM Friday morning)

Maker Faire - Sunday April 25, 2010 9 AM to 9 PM

TechShop RDU opens Monday April 26, 2010 10 AM until 10 PM.

It will be a soft start opening, meaning only some of the tools and equipment will be operational. Specifically we will try to have the Laser Cutter, ShopBot, Vinyl Cutter, Sewing Studio, Computer Classroom, Conference room, Plastics Lab and all the private rental spaces ready to go by Monday, April 26th.

We hope to see you at the Maker Faire.

And even more, we hope to see you at TechShop RDU on the 26th!

Thanks,

Scott

Peter will not be in today, Thursday 22APR10 due to a family emergency. The back doors should be open due to the contractors installing doors- come on down and help out!

Things are coming together more and more.

And Maker Faire is happening this weekend! It runs from 9AM to 9PM so there should be plenty of time to see everything. We'll have some of our employees there, but if you want to volunteer to spend some time telling folks about TechShop, then please let us know. It will be easy for anyone who loves TechShop.

It will be a simple setup.
• We will hand out postcards to interested people.
• We will take names and email addresses from people who want to join our mailing list for a chance to win a one year membership to TechShop. They will enter their information on a computer and we will notify the winner by email.
• We will offer $39 Membership Tickets good for one month membership and two free classes.

If you want to help us set it up on Saturday afternoon or help us man the booth (or woman it) contact scott at techshoprdu dot com

But whether you can help us or not, we hope to see you at the Maker Faire!

Thanks,

Scott

Saturday and Sunday, April 17th and 18th.................... will be BIG days at TechShop RDU!

We will be emptying trailers and putting things into the rooms. We will continue with the wall floor vinyl trim installations and electrical. There are a lot more tasks to be done. Come and pick one.

Peter will be here to open the doors at 9AM and someone will be here until after 10PM so if you are able to come any time, someone should be here.

We'll be supplying food and drinks too for all the volunteers.

We're still aiming for an April 26th opening date and there is still a lot to do, so help us get as much done this weekend as possible.

Thanks,

Scott

I haven't blogged lately so there is a lot to say.

The wall to floor trim arrived today. I couldn't get to the tools we have for this in the trailer, so will pick them up tomorrow on my way in. We can start installing this immediately. Once in, we can start filling up each room. We still have a pretty big list of things to do before we are finished, but this one task will make a huge difference. If you can help, come on down any time. I'm guessing knee pads would be a good idea if you have any.

This weekend should be seeing a lot of rooms getting their trim and filling up. We are hoping to fill up the upstairs in a week or so.

David Haley is working on the venting system for the laser room and should be finished before we finish the floor trim. We can get the laser room, vinyl cutting room, plastics lab, conference room, textiles room and computer classroom ready now. The private spaces should be ready soon as well.

Thomas Witt will remove all the upstairs doors this weekend and spray them all. Then they can be put back, the locksets installed and we will be just about ready to go upstairs.

We've located the ShopBot to it's final position and are ready for Mark Harrison to finish the electrical hookup for that. I'll dig out the computer and we can finish hooking it up and routing all the wires so they are not hanging from the underside of the table or laying on the floor and then we will be ready to call the folks over at ShopBot who have graciously agreed to come help us set it up. A few tables will give us the ability to start using it. Probably the first project will be the TechShop kitchen, but right behind that I hope to see it create the rest of the work surfaces for the ShopBot room.

The Maker Faire is coming up in less than a week and a half. Make sure it is on your schedule. Click the link on our left sidebar for more information or go to http://makerfairenc.com/

We're looking for a few more employees as we near our opening date, especially Facilities/Maintenance personnel. If you know anyone who might be interested in working at TechShop please refer them to jobs@techshoprdu.com No calls please.

We haven't announced an opening date yet so how about I try right now to give a date? OK, we will aim for April 26th, the day after Maker Faire. We should be able to have the whole upstairs ready by then and be rapidly moving towards getting the downstairs going too. No guarantees, but things look good for that date. Any help you can provide will speed up the process. We have been holding a lot of people back who wanted to help because we needed to get certain things done before others could happen. But now we should be moving at top speed to fill up the newest, latest and greatest TechShop...TechShop RDU!

I hope to see you there soon.

Thanks,

Scott

We are having the Big Planning and Buid-Out party today from 9am till we drop! Erm...That's right now! Come on out- the lawn will wait, we want TSRDU OPEN!

The doors have arrived, and the ratmouse (Matt Rouse) is back and hanging them upstairs. Come help us and, as an added bonus, TechShopRDU will open for business and play earlier!

peter

Peter is back!

Peter Charles is back with us and will be opening up TechShop RDU this Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday at 9AM. So if you want to drop by in the morning but have noticed no one is there, that will change starting now. There are a lot of things we need help with and the more help we get, the faster we will get TechShop RDU up and running.

The doors have arrived and will be delivered Tuesday. The locksets have arrived as well, so as soon as we can install those, we will be able to let everyone who has reserved rooms take access and start to fill them up.

We are ready to finish the layout of the ShopBot room and get it powered up. Once that is done, and the Saw Stop is brought in, we can start the Kitchen class.

Scott

Two things.

First, Mark is planning on being here from about noon to 4 on Sunday. Help would be welcomed.

Second, we need to get a group together to rotate, and assemble the ShopBot. ONce that is done, mark can run the electrical and we can contact ShopBot, who have graciously offered to help us get it set up and running again.

I started a forum post for people to suggest times and generally put together a plan to get it done.