Twin Cities Maker is an all-volunteer community that collaboratively operates a nonprofit organization and shared workshop. Our community members pay monthly dues, volunteer their time, and donate resources which go towards the upkeep of the shop and its tools and, so together, we all get to use the tools and space to build things that they wouldn’t be able to build at home.
We are community of volunteers, not a rental workshop so we ask potential members to take the time to get to know us and if our community is a good fit. Keep reading for more on what membership in the community means and how to get started on your jouncy as a member.
Membership Options
- $65 – recurring monthly membership
- $325 – 6 month membership. Get one free month!
- $650 – A full year membership gets you two free months!
- $30 – Community Supported monthly membership (Does NOT come with a +1)
We do not offer discounts based solely on student or senior status as those are not status indicators consistent with financial need. We instead offer a Community Supported membership for anyone who needs the community’s financial support to enable participation there is need.
We want our community and our facilities to be available to people from all walks of life, and to do that we keep our dues as low as possible. As a result, we don’t have paid employees. Instead we ask every member to commit 10 hours a year and help out with one project or clean up day.
Sound like a lot? Just spend 15 minutes cleaning up a little more mess that you make four times a month and you’ve got it covered!
How to Join: Your Membership Journey
- Complete our Community Registration and Waiver so we can get to know you. You can take a class or tour the workshop during our Open House and meet other community members. Dates can be found on the calendar here.
- Signup for and attend New Member Orientation & Shop Safety Trainings! Choose the training dates that work for you for general orientation and safety trainings for the individual shops. Get to know other new members as we go over the basics of the community and the shop, resources, and your responsibilities as members to each other as part of the community. You will be given a key fob at orientation which will be enabled once payment is processed. Replacements are available outside the shop if your dog or snow blower eats it.
- Complete a Membership Application. Your membership will not be active until you are approved by our Membership Team.
- Join our Slack. As soon as you’re on our member dashboard please use the “Join Slack” link so that you can collaborate with other members.
- Get involved to volunteer to support each other and the community. Your support as a member makes Twin Cities Maker happen. We ask each member to volunteer 10 hours each year as they are able.
Returning Members
If you are a former member of Twin Cities Maker who has been gone more than a year you will need to complete New Member Orientation and shop trainings before you can rejoin.
Reach out to membership@tcmaker.org to get started.
Responsibilities of Membership
Be excellent to each other. This is the central organizing principle of Twin Cities Maker and the reason why the organization works as well as it does. Try to be aware of others and respectful of their needs. Be patient with each other as volunteers — we all are donating evenings and weekends to keep the tools the running.
Ask for help when you need help. It’s easy to hurt yourself or damage equipment if you don’t know what you’re doing. If you’re worried that you don’t know how something works, ask another member for help or contact one of the area managers.
Report broken tools. If you notice that a tool is broken, worn out, or making noises that it shouldn’t, notify the area manager, so we can inspect the tool and, adjust, repair or replace it as necessary.
Pitch in when you can. Since we are ans all volunteer community we rely on you to help maintain the shop, we’re always grateful for any help you offer us. Even simple things like taking out the trash or sweeping a floor make a huge difference when enough people do them.
Benefits of Membership
In addition to a supportive and diverse community which is our organizations most valuable resource.
As a member of the Twin Cities Maker community, you and your +1 get 24-7 access to our workshop, beyond the incredible resource of the having a diverse set of minds around you we also have tools available. A bit of what we offer:
- A full-featured woodworking shop with high-end cabinet saws, a large planer and jointer, an amazing thicknessing sander, and nearly any hand tool you could need.
- A large metalworking shop with stations for MIG, TIG, and oxyacetylene welding.
- A professional-grade laser cutter.
- A machine shop for milling and turning high-precision metal parts.
- A blacksmithing area for people who are old-school.
- A collection of 3D printers and CNC machines for people who are not old-school.
We ask that you store flammable chemicals like acetone and oil-based paints in our flammable chemical locker, and to make sure they go home with you when you’re done.
While we don’t provide long-term storage for items that won’t fit in your storage area, but if you’re working on a large project that you can’t easily move to and from the shop, we can help you find a place for it until the work is done.
Additional training is required for specific areas the shop and the tools that require training.
It is strongly encouraged that you do this before starting your membership subscription so you can hit the ground running.
Complete Shop Safety Trainings this can be done either before or after you pay for membership full list of needed trainings below:
| Shop Area | Training Required | Notes |
| WOODSHOP | Some Tools | Orientation and Training Required for Sawstop, Planer, Joiner, Drum sander, Lathes, Festool Domino |
| LASER CUTTER | YES | Area Orientation is mandatory |
| CNC | YES | Area Orientation is mandatory |
| BLACKSMITH | YES | Area Orientation is mandatory |
| ARTIFACTORY | Some Tools | Industrial Singer requires checkoff Contact area manager if you are unfamiliar with tools for training |
| ELECTRONICS | No | Contact area manager if you are unfamiliar with tools for training |
| METAL SHOP | Yes | Area Orientation is mandatory |
| MACHINE SHOP | Yes | You must demonstrate proficiency on all tools before use. |
| 3D LAB | Yes | Area Orientation is mandatory |