At first I thought this website was all about tricked out garages that cost more than $100,000 to build, which also would have been a cool website. However that is not the case for www.100kgarages.com  which is actually a site dedicated to the small fabricators across the country.

The idea is that a network of small and medium size fab shops all connected together would allow any crazy eyed individual within the network to have the capacity of a large manufacturing plant at their finger tips. For instance if you prototyped a product (you don’t even need your own equipment, checkout www.columbusideafoundry.com in Central Ohio) and wanted to sell a million of that product through a website, you could load the plans on the network and those from all over with capacity could manufacturer the product. This helps the person who needs manufacturing capability and also those with down time, to utilize their equipment and make a few extra bucks.

So far the network is centered around the Shopbot CNC router machines which makes sense but could, in the future, be applied to CNC Mills, Laser Cutters, Water-Jet, etc. There are endless possibilities to the technology and as it develops, new possibilities will continue to arise. The website www.ponoko.com brings everything together with material suppliers, creative folks and even buyers.