um. 1000 dollar voucher to harbor freight would do the trick? i was there over the weekend. they had a sandblasting station (enclosed, with gloved access) for 400 bucks.

also: english wheel anybody?

For any tools more complex than a hammer, that might get used more than twice,
I don't think Harbor Freight is the best choice of suppliers. I consider their power tools to be consumable
items.

I wish that, at least our electronics section, be organized like this: http://www.duntemann.com/12vtubes/shoptips.htm

wow that is a nice setup.

In college I make a screen printing light using some treated lumber scraps from building my deck, some 2 foot fluorescents, and some unfiltered UV bulbs. Worked like a charm. I printed my masters using an ink jet printer on overhead transparency film.

basics
hammers regular, smithing, ball, mabey few different sizes
drills couple hand wired for cheap and more power, 1 mabey 2 presses 1 small 1 big
1 mabey 2 metal lathes as you can do wood in them
your basic planes/scrappers for clay/concrete
concrete/firebrickclay to make a big coal forge for sandcasting which can make just about anything a cnc could make at crazy lower cost, you can use a torch to cast plastic so dont really need a reprap either. and then you have a forge so you can do blacksmithing/forge welding. some sheet metal for making some charcoal if want to use charcoal for forge.
a welder mig/arc mabey torch but electric is much better in my opinion. once you have a welder you can make sheet metal forming tools e.g. box and pan break, you can make vises, use a foot pump/aircompressor and a pneumatic piston to make a lowpower/safe arbor press.
table saw, cirular saw, jigsaw, saber saw,
levels
sockets/ratchets-wrenches, screwdrivers
soldering irons, wave, regular, torch, scopes,
few computers running windows/linux/unix
squares centerpunches. once you have the basics you can make almost anything else you would need.

Couple things that I have not seen listed yet.

Digital Camera / Camcorder
Safety gear (glasses, face shields, aprons)
First Aid Kit
Fire Extinguishers
Safety procedure manual / guide. (not fun, I know, but ...)

A location to show off / display past projects... Either pictures, or a PC to play movies, as well as display group / community items.

Above in red are items I have that I can donate. As mentioned in another post, some sort of quid pro quo or 'payment in kind' regarding membership is what I'm partly hoping for. Items I've highlighted above in blue are ones that could be built for the shop as group projects (which I'd like to get involved in).

We need a working document scanner too.

Late to the party, in general.

I live in a house with other people and I work 2nd shift. The only times I can work on projects are very early in the morning, and very late at night. Also, since its not my house, I don't have a space to work in and therefor, I haven't invested in tools beyond pliers and wire strippers.

This is what I would like to see in the shop pretty much "right now" that everyone can use on nearly any project, and also looking at total newbies or younger crowds who might not realize what they need for a project and show up with little more than an idea of what they want to do. Or people who, say, live in apartments and can't keep ANY tools around:

A drill with bits for metal and wood.
A rotary tool.
screwdrivers all kinds
hammers
all kinds of screws, nails, bolts etc.
Tap & Die (which I can donate!)
levels
measuring tape
safety gear to keep in the shop-safety glasses and gloves. I bet we could get these in bulk from somewhere.
files and rasps for metal and wood
Pliers, wire strippers and other small hand tools.
soldering equipment (for electronics and maybe for metal too--not everyone can weld)
Breadboards
Pencils. Pens. Paper.

Things I'd like to see in the future:
Everyone's already meantioned a CNC or reprap, laser etcher etc.
Drafting tables.
Sewing equipment.
Lockers.
"learning kits" for various little skill sets that can be used to learn various things like soldering, putting together LED stuff, using a dremel etc. These are things someone would actually have to make up, but I think they'd be really cool little self-starter projects.

And of course the larger equipment, press/mill, saws of various sorts. Welding stuff.


But really--basic basics first!