I just went to a meeting at my local "Tinkermill".
http://www.tinkermill.org/

It is open to anyone to come in and use their:
Laser cutter engraver (cuts wood up to 1/4 thick)
CNC router(s) up to 4 ft X 8 ft X 5in thick material.
CNC Mill
8X 3D Printers
workstations with SolidWorks, or Sketchup-Pro
Wood SHop
Metal shop - Mig, Tig, Pasma cutting, lathe, mill, etc
Foundry
Glass blowing shop
Robot & Electronics shop

It is open 24/7 to any member and it is only $50 a month

Needless to say, I am joining.
I think my first project will be a CF front Air Dam.
I plan on cutting an airdam positive core on the CNC router, then vacuum forming over it.

You cant work on cars on the premises, but you can do all the car parts that you want.

These places are gaining popularity very quickly. Check your local area to see if you might have one.

I'm not too sure about that TinkerMill name...for some reason the song "we are men, we are men in tights" popped into my head, hahaha


We call them TechShops out here:

http://www.techshop.ws/locations.html

We like TinkerMill. We're tinkerers and we're in an old wood mill shop that used to be used for making cabinets and such. It's basically a 10,000 SF garage full of tools, smart people and great community. We do 150+ classes and events a month on everything from hoe to use a 3D printer or laser cutter to how to brew beer or program an arduino to build your own custom drone.

Its also the largest makerspace in the west (close to 300 members). You have to go to Texas or Cali to find something similar.

It's a 501©3 non profit as well. TechShop (a for profit corporation)costs about 5-10 times as much to use because, well, VC money. They're great, don't get me wrong, but they're just another business. TinkerMill is a true innovation center, community resource and a sort of accidental new biz incubator. It's got about 70% techies, 20% artists and artisan's and 10% biz types. Put that together and you have an amazing place with an amazing and creative community.

We have Techshop here but also have "ATX Hackspace". sounds like hackspace is a lot like Tinkermill, a grungier version of TechShop. Different groups for automotive (Lemons racers), wood shop, metal shop, Ardiuno/raspberry/robotics, crafts ... I just checked out Hackspace last week and will be joining. The monthly is less than labor to replace the bearings in my Honda and they have the press I need and a whole lot more.

We have a "lite" version in the hipster district, they call it a hackspace. A bunch of wood working tools, a hobbyist cnc router table that won't cut aluminum, and a bunch of little 3D printers.

Used mostly by pretentious low skill youngsters making cosplay weapons with the lowest effort possible.

I used to run a cnc router at a sign shop so I was looking forward to that, but somebody keeps trashing it. Couldn't justify the $40 month for equipment I already have or don't need.