A calm working room for making, repairing, testing and learning.

Hire Options

Bench hire is £12 per hour, £48 half day or £82 full day. It includes hand tools, soldering station and assembly space. Laser time, materials, printer use and file repair are booked separately. Storage is by agreement only, labelled clearly, and never assumed because a half-built thing looks too delicate to move.

Inductions

The laser induction is £35 per person and usually takes 75 minutes. Printer orientation and hand-tool refreshers are arranged around what you need to make. The aim is to support first-time users without hovering over every decision. Safety basics come first, then material choice, setup, cleanup and when to ask before pressing the next button.

Open Bench First Thursdays

On the first Thursday of each month, Open Bench runs 18:00 to 21:00 by booking. It is a small group evening for mending, prototyping, soldering, assembly and getting advice before committing to a bigger job. It is not the night for commercial batch work or a noisy operation that makes everyone else hate their tea.

Schools, Colleges And Community Groups

Half-day supervised sessions can be booked for up to 8 people with at least 3 weeks notice. A DBS-checked adult must be present from the group. Projects are agreed in advance so the session is safe, paced properly and not ruined by a file that arrives five minutes before everyone does.

House Rules

• Clean down your bench before you leave.
• Label materials, offcuts and parts in progress.
• No unsafe fumes, unknown plastics or loud grinding in the shared room.
• No commercial batch work during community evenings.
• Ask before using someone else's jig, fixture, clamp setup or clever bit of masking tape.

Facilities List

Cutting mats, soldering station, pillar drill, clamps, small hand tools, assembly table, Wi-Fi, kettle, offcut rack and advice on local material suppliers. If you need something unusual, ask before booking rather than arriving with a heroic assumption.