TechShop

Last year, I wrote: «Still under construction as of late May 2015.» It’s June 2016, and there hasn’t been much change. Except that the membership fee has increased from $ 125 to $ 150.
This TechShop used to be very cool, but it’s gone way downhill after two moves.

I am at the Techshop this week with a bunch of my kids from my school. This place is amazing! My students are middle school students working on projects with Greg. The staff here is patient, helpful and friendly. My students can’t wait to come back tomorrow. The facility is clean, well lit and all of the equipment is working. My students have full access to the 3-​d printers, lasers etc. There is no waiting and no one telling them they can’t do something. Nothing but encouragement and helpful advice. I wish I had a place like this when I was a kid.

We’re almost to the one month mark for the shop air compressor being down.
To make up for the lack of service, they decided to cut hours for the second time in a couple of months, providing even less service than just having a bunch of broken machines they won’t fix.
I hope someday they can convince me to leave a good review.

I’ve been attending this Techshop regularly for the last three months (as in 3 – 4 times/​week). Some of the earlier criticisms are valid, but I think they’re unduly harsh.
It’s true that this location isn’t as busy as the San Jose and San Francisco locations. While this means that they have fewer classes, it also means that there is less competition for the equipment than at the other locations. There’s also a lot more space to lay out your project – I rarely feel crowded here.
Though less frequent, the classes I’ve taken here were well-​done, and whenever I’ve had a question, the staff was helpful.
The place is always quite clean and mostly well-​organized (the hand tools sometimes get a little jumbled). The bathrooms and kitchens have always been spotless.
When an instructor cancelled his class unexpectedly, I was comped for the next one. (Based on other’s experience though, this seems to be on ad hoc basis.)
Speaking for myself, the biggest problem with this Techshop (and all Techshops I’ve been in to) is inadequate space for long-​term projects. (Though this location is better than both SF and San Jose in this regard as well, as they have a number of storage cages for short term rental).
Techshop, weirdly, also doesn’t do much to foster online community. There’s no wiki, official facebook group, mailing list, or other means of talking to, and learning from, other members.
But despite it’s drawbacks, I’ve been happy here, and feel that I’ve received good value for my money. I would recommend it to anyone else who has a hankering for creating stuff, but lacks the tools or space to do so.

I like this place. Some of the reviews are really tough, I’m not sure why.
Yes they are _​still_​remodeling. Yes it doesn’t look like all the machines are up. Yes it seems quieter than SJ or SF, but, that’s also a benefit as it’s not as crowded and the machines you do want to use, you usually can use and not wait!
Can we have a more full calendar of classes to choose from? Absolutely. Just look at the calendars at SJ or SF, always full of fun things to choose from.
Are the classes being offered good? Absolutely. All the classes I’ve taken have been great.
I feel that it is a bit of a self fulfilling prophecy — they offer very few classes to choose from, during weird times. Not that many people sign up, classes get canceled. Fewer classes are offered. Maybe if we can remove the class size minimums so classes don’t get canceled more people will jump in last minute when they realize they are indeed free and the class is interesting.

I loved TechShop back at the original location. There were always tons of classes. Now that they’ve relocated to SC then now to RWC, the calendar has totally dried up. Yes, I realize that they are rebuilding, but they’ve been rebuilding for a while now. The calendar is starting to pick back up, but there’s still a dearth of classes and workshops. When there are classes that I do want to take, they put them at some pretty challenging times. For example, the Tormach classes are almost never in the evening nor weekends.
As far as the individual instruction goes, most of the classes I’ve taken here have been really good. There’s only been one or two classes that I thought were bad, and I’ve given them my feedback.
There’s still some equipment that I’m waiting for them to get up and running like the CNC plasma cutter. But for the most part, I can do most of the projects I want to do here.

Downgrading this to 1 star
I have the same experience as the other comments
The staff here enforces «rules», in a one sided way. As a customer you end up getting screwed constantly
The instructors are not held accountable if they break the rules… some of the classes they don’t even fully teach you how to use the equipment end to end. And yet, the «rules» are strict when applied to customers… you can’t use the equipment until you take the course
There is no test for the classes. Each student gets a pass/​fail «grade» arbitrarily, it’s totally up to the instructor. During the class, only the instructor actually uses the machine, and not the students, so there’s no way to tell which students know how to operate the machinery safely, and which ones still needs more training.
Hotbed for beauracracy, and a dangerous place to be. Would not suggest bringing your kids there

3: That is the number of times class was cancelled on me without prior notice. They only informed me when I showed up at the shop.
25: That is the number of minutes an instructor was late for a class. The manager explained that there was a mess up in the scheduling system so the instructor was only informed an hour before the class starts. We students all kindly waited for the instructor to show up.
12: That was the number of minutes I was late. I called fifteen minutes earlier that I will be late due to unforeseen traffic conditions. The VERY SAME instructor who was late for my prior class and the same shop manager refused to let me in, saying the cut off time was 10 minutes.
When they mess up, they ask you for compassion, but when you screw up, they offer none.
I am not saying I am right here, but my overall experience so far with the techshop has been downright frustrating.