For $30/day, $100/month you can have access to an amazingly well-equipped shop, with expert assistance, available classes, and more. Check 'em out. (They're in Menlo Park, CA.)
TechShop is a fully-equipped open-access workshop and creative environment that lets you drop in any time and work on your own projects at your own pace. It is like a health club with tools and equipment instead of exercise equipment...or a Kinko's for geeks.
TechShop was founded in 2006 by Jim Newton, a lifetime maker, veteran BattleBots builder and former MythBuster.
TechShop is located in Menlo Park, California, on the San Francisco peninsula 25 miles south of San Francisco.
Anyone can come in and build and make all kinds of things themselves using the TechShop tools, machines and equipment, and draw on the TechShop instructors and experts to help them with their projects.
TechShop is the SF Bay Area's Only Open-Access Public Workshop:
Guy Kawasaki's description is better than TechShop's own