They've Got the Lasers... Now All You Need is a Shark

Dabblers in diabolical death-ray design and general gadget geeks will soon have another outlet—as though Maker Faire and Dorkbot weren't enough—to satiate their craving for homemade mechanical wizardry.

Hailed as a "paradise for tech tinkerers" and created by one of the brains behind MythBusters, TechShop launched in the Silicon Valley a little over a year ago, and now has plans to open a franchise in Austin.

The open-access workshop comes equipped with some heavy-duty (and rather awesome-sounding) industrial tools—think 3D printers, injection molding machines, and plasma cutters—to help anyone and everyone make, well, pretty much anything they want. Folks who might be a little rusty on, say, laser cutting skillz can take classes to get up to speed, and are afterwards granted access to any machines in the facility that they're certified on.

The shop has a business model similar to a gym's—members can choose to buy a single day pass ($30), monthly unlimited-access passes ($100), or annual subscriptions ($1,200).

According to CNET, the company could be opening up its franchise in Austin, along with several other cities across the U.S., as early as next July 4.

"You can machine aluminum and make prototypes of something you've always wanted to make," said founder Jim Newton to CNET. "I think people want to make things everywhere. (But they're usually) hampered by the lack of tools, space and a creative community to work within."