Los Angeles public fab and machine shop
 

Hi everyone,
I wanted to tell all the LA members about a public fab and machine shop I am trying to open. It should be a great place to work on small projects and have all the great fab and machine tools at your disposal. Take a look at my kickstarter page where it explains more about how i'm trying to get this going and what you can do to help. If you have questions please ask them on the kickstarter page as I cant get to the forums as quickly as I would like.
Lou
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...cess-prototype

What about if somebody hurts themselves on a machine? Sounds like a great idea but as a business owner you need to think about that. Insurance would be crazy money for a shop like that.

If somebody cuts off a finger or something then here come the ambulance chaser attorneys. Even if they don't win it will cost you major $$ in attorney costs fighting it.

Great idea but, I don't see how this could work. I can already picture a bunch of people mistreating or endangering the equipment or themselves.

I looked at his link yesterday and he wants to raise $50k by May of 2012. It's nearly April and all he had in donations were $145. If this is what you are passionate about doing, regardless of the risk, etc, you'd better look for some other source of funding than donations. It will nearly impossible to raise $50k in just over 30 days. Just my $.02.

yeah, liability insurance would be very important, and once you tell them you want to insure regular people who are for the most part untrained to use dangerous equipment...................... :willy: gonna be near impossible to find, and ultra expensive if you do. ESPECIALLY in California.

its workable...check this out.
www.techshop.com

I do understand your concern but it is already delt with as far as insurance goes. As far as funding goes I have a lot of sources that I have not even contacted yet about it, and crazier things have happened...but yes if it does not work this way then i will get traditional funding.

Lou

yeah, as long as you have enough cash flow to pay the bills it'll work. I would not cut corners on my liability insurance company though, because it is not a question of if, it's a question of when someone gets hurt. And if it's a bad injury you may have trouble securing insurance from then on.

Good luck, like the idea, liability part scares the heck out of me.

I think it is great
 

I grow up as a military brat. The on base shop that provide this to the car lovers, new enlisters and senior officers, was an amazing place of equality, bonding and sharing. I know the insurance issue is different as it was Air Force sponsor but yet accidents were very very rare. More importantly the demand was huge. I think you would need to have teachers and managers to avoid the issues but I think the economic could work. This is one of my thougths upon retirement. The capital is significant but I would not over invest in tools few could use.

I would go for it.

Its a good idea but you could have to run it like a gym or the techshop. you pay a membership fee and release all liability with a form. Good luck with it. If you ran it like a tech school focusing on unemployed workers. CA has grants and programs to help funding.