Twin Cities Maker — Local services in Minneapolis

They really need to figure out if they are a company or a community. When you want a company (reliability, communication, systems), you get an ad-hoc loosey-goosey community. When you want a community (being able to talk to a person who is empowered to make things right) you get a company with policies that cannot be broken.

The machines are often broken, and since it's all volunteer, who knows what time frame they will ever be fixed. If it takes money, the board has to approve the money, which means it waits until the next board meeting.

Also, beware that to use almost any machine you have to be trained and signed off on it. The training classes cost money, through a third party service, and are done on whatever schedule the person running the classes. I joined, and then decided to leave, before I even could get scheduled for half the machines I wanted to use. Ultimately, I paid for three months, took training on one broken machine, signed up a second class, then cancelled before actually going to that class. In total I used the machines none.

The biggest help I ever got was asking questions...

Twin Cities Maker is a great organization to be at because they have a wide range of tools I could use to make projects and the managers of the shops, e.g. the metal shop, are really good at having all their bases cover in terms of details, safety procedures, etc. Heck, even the vice-president at the New Member Orientation covered his bases pretty well. Also some classes had application of the already thorough concepts taught in said classes, while others didn't, so it's both great teaching/classes and good variation of teaching procedures in my book.

Now onto the bad stuff. When I talked to two of the people there about my questions, they were very defensive when I was just being curious asking said questions. Also I was told most of the classes were free, but when I checked the class list, about half the classes costed money exclusively, basically to mean I was lied to, and I was given some wrong information on other things concerning TC Maker, but that's up the workers there to figure out on their own. ...

I have spent thousands of hours here, from 2010 - 2015, and again from 2022 until now. This is the largest and most capable Maker Space I've seen, and I've traveled to many, both in the Twin Cities, and across the country. The capabilities are amazing. A full wood shop, blacksmith area, metal shop, machine shop, laser cutters, 3D Printers, textiles and crafting, and more. I first came here to have a place to make traditional wooden longbows, and have since branched out into making furniture, siege engines, shields, and have learned a great deal about woodworking, laser cutting, and 3D printing. Although the capabilities the space offers are what you notice first, the true value lies in the community. Over 500 people are members here, and every time I come in, I meet makers who are willing to talk about what they're doing, why, and how. There's...