Blog

How to Join

by Logistica, May 12, 2019

Membership Options

  • $60 / month – Regular membership
  • $300 – 6 month membership. Get one free month!
  • $600 – A full year membership gets you two free months!

All standard memberships listed above include a +1 because we believe you should be able to bring someone you care about into the shop and work together with them. Our only limitation is your person should be someone that is an intimate part of your daily life.

All plus ones are members in their own right and have the same training requirements and responsibilities as any other member they can get started on their membership journey here.

Follow the Steps Below to get Started

Membership Journey

  1. Attend Open House Come to open house meet our community, and tour the facilities and meet other community members That can be found on the calendar here
  2. Membership Application & Liability Waiver Complete your liability waiver before tours & classes, if you’re interested in joining you can complete the membership application at the same time.
  3. Signup For New Member Orientation & Shop Safety Trainings Choose the training dates that work for you for general orientation and safety trainings for the individual shops
  4. Receive Welcome Letter with your Key 7-10 Days after you complete you membership application you’ll get a welcome from our president letter with your key walking you through your next steps. Replacements are available outside the shop if your dog or snow blower eats it.
  5. Attend New Member Orientation 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,
  6. Setup Your Account with Emailed Invitation After new member orientation you’re going to receive your invite to the membership system
  7. Pay for Your Membership – Pay when you’re ready to join after taking New Member Orientation, Area Trainings, and Classes
  8. Join Our Slack As soon as you’re on our dashboard, use the join slack link to get slack setup so that you can collaborate with other members
  9. Get Involved to Volunteer, supporting each other & the community Your support as a member makes Twin Cities Maker happen we ask each member to give 10 Hours each year as they are able.

Returning Members

If you are a former member of Twin Cities Maker, login to Clubhouse to reactivate your membership  clubhouse.tcmaker.org.

If you don’t have an account, or no longer have access to the account, contact our membership team here:

Membership Reactivation Request Form

Being a Member of our Volunteer Community

by Logistica, May 12, 2019

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, in return, get to use the tools and space to build things that they wouldn’t be able to build at home.

We’re very different from a gym. We want our community and our facilities to be available to people from all walks of life, and to do that we have keep our dues as low as possible. As a result, we don’t have paid employees and instead rely on the dedication of our volunteer staff and the goodwill and cooperation of our members to keep everything working smoothly.

Here’s what you’re getting yourself into.

Membership Journey

  1. Attend Open House Come to open house meet our community, and tour the facilities and meet other community members That can be found on the calendar here
  2. Membership Application & Liability Waiver Complete your liability waiver before tours & classes, if you’re interested in joining you can complete the membership application at the same time.
  3. Signup For New Member Orientation & Shop Safety Trainings Choose the training dates that work for you for general orientation and safety trainings for the individual shops
  4. Receive Welcome Letter with your Key 7-10 Days after you complete you membership application you’ll get a welcome from our president letter with your key walking you through your next steps. Replacements are available outside the shop if your dog or snow blower eats it.
  5. Attend New Member Orientation 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,
  6. Setup Your Account with Emailed Invitation After new member orientation you’re going to receive your invite to the membership system
  7. Pay for Your Membership – Pay when you’re ready to join after taking New Member Orientation, Area Trainings, and Classes
  8. Join Our Slack As soon as you’re on our dashboard, use the join slack link to get slack setup so that you can collaborate with other members
  9. Get Involved to Volunteer, supporting each other & the community Your support as a member makes Twin Cities Maker happen we ask each member to give 10 Hours each year as they are able.

Membership Options

  • $60 / month – Regular membership
  • $300 – 6 month membership. Get one free month!
  • $600 – A full year membership gets you two free months!

For new members there is a $20 fee charged when you sign up for orientation. This makes the first month’s charge $80 for a standard membership, and $320 for a 6 month membership.

All standard memberships listed above include a +1 because we believe you should be able to bring someone you care about into the shop and work together with them. Our only limitation is your person should be someone that is an intimate part of your daily life.

All plus ones are members in their own right and have the same training requirements and responsibilities as any other member they can get started on their membership journey here.

Returning Members

If you are a former member of Twin Cities Maker, login to Clubhouse to reactivate your membership  clubhouse.tcmaker.org.

If you don’t have an account, or no longer have access to the account, contact our membership team here:

Membership Reactivation Request Form

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. It also helps to be patient with volunteers — they are donating their 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

As a member of Twin Cities Maker, you and one lucky member of your household get 24-7 access to our workshop and all the wonders held within. 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, but most other stuff is fair game.

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.