Frequently Asked Questions

Asmbly is located at 9701 Dessau Road, Suite #304, Austin, Texas 78754. View the map and get directions here.

We’re open to members 21/7, from 5am-2am every day. We do not have set general public hours.

Asmbly joined forces with longtime Austin makerspace – ATX Hackerspace – in April 2021 and now operates as Asmbly. Check out our History page for more information.

Check out How to Join Asmbly which covers the steps required to become a member.

Everyone! Asmbly is a 501c3 nonprofit community makerspace serving Austin’s artisans, creatives, craftspeople. We hope you’ll join us.

We currently require all members be at least 18 years old. Minors 13 and up are permitted to visit the space as a guest of a member, but they may not use any tools or equipment.

Membership is currently $95/month, or $950/year.

We accept all major credit cards and ACH (e-check) payments in US Dollars. Unfortunately we’re unable to accept paper checks, cash, bitcoin, gold bullion or vintage vinyl. For members who prefer to use cash, we recommend using a Visa gift card.

Yep! For family members living under the same roof, the primary member will pay the normal $95/month and each additional member of the household who wishes to join will pay $60/mo. Each family member is required to have their own Neon account and complete all of the How to Join Asmbly steps. Just send an email to membership@asmbly.org before purchasing a membership and we’ll do some behind the scenes magic to provide the discounted rate.

Absolutely! You can purchase as a gift certificate for as many months of membership as you would like through our online store here. Just ask the lucky recipient to email membership@asmbly.org to redeem their gift certificate.

We have a required onboarding process for all new members that must be completed prior to gaining facility access. Purchasing a membership is one piece of that, but you will not gain access until completing all the steps outlined on our How to Join Asmbly page.

We don’t require contracts. Memberships are billed every 30 days (or annually if you’d like) and members are free to cancel anytime through their member portal. We don’t prorate early cancellations; stated differently, 30 days is the shortest membership term we currently offer. We’d love to have you as a member – click here to get started.

You can actually pause and restart your membership directly through your Neon portal. Here’s how:

1. Visit your Neon portal by clicking here.
2. Navigate to the “Purchase / Edit Membership” dropdown menu.
3. On desktop, toggle auto-renew off and click “SAVE” at the bottom. On mobile, click “CONFIRM” and “SAVE.”

Please keep in mind that if your membership remains inactive for 12 months, you’ll need to retake the orientation and any safety classes upon reactivation.

Monthly memberships are nonrefundable. Annual memberships can be 50% refunded if requested within the first 3 months. After 3 months, annual memberships are nonrefundable. Classes may be fully refunded if the request is emailed to membership@asmbly.org at least 48 hours in advance of the class time. If it is within 48 hours of the class start time, it is nonrefundable.

Yes! Register for one of our New Member Orientation & Tour sessions on our classes page.

Check out our tool list. It’s not comprehensive, but it lists most of what we offer and will give you a good sense of what equipment we have.

We offer classes on everything from basic woodworking tools to laser cutting. Some of our machines or specialty shops (e.g. woodshop, CNC router, laser cutting) require an introductory safety class regardless of prior experience. This is to ensure that all Asmbly members are following the same machine use guidelines and safety procedures. It also ensures that members know things that are specific to our space – for example, how our dust collection system works, what software our CNC router uses, etc.

We maintain our shop through a combination of paid staff and dedicated volunteers. While we do have a small number of paid staff members, the heart of our organization lies in the commitment and passion of our volunteers.

For shop maintenance, we’ve implemented an On-Duty Volunteer Program, where volunteer stewards play a crucial role in maintaining and repairing tools throughout the shop. Their dedication ensures that our equipment is in excellent condition for all members to use.

Additionally, we encourage a culture of responsibility among our members. We expect everyone to contribute to the cleanliness of the workspace by cleaning up 110% after each work session. This involves not only tidying up individual work tables or areas but going the extra mile to ensure the entire shop remains clean and safe for everyone.

Participating in a community shop space offers numerous benefits, such as access to valuable project advice and free how-to resources. However, it also requires careful planning, including allocating at least 15 minutes for cleanup after each work session. Unlike a personal garage or home shop, maintaining a shared space demands collective effort to keep a positive and efficient working environment.

We love big projects, but as a community space, storage is limited. We offer a limited number of paid storage spaces, but generally speaking, most items need to leave with you each day. We make exceptions to this — project glue-ups, paint drying, etc. If you have a big project in mind, please contact our Stewards Team at stewards@asmbly.org before you start your project to ensure that it’s something we can accommodate.

Open flames are not permitted. Creating or repairing firearms is not permitted. Using dangerous chemicals or processes without the ability to protect others is not permitted. Remember: we’re a community space, so please plan accordingly.

Thank you for thinking of Asmbly! We would be happy to discuss a hosting arrangement or a charitable donation. Please contact our board to discuss at board@asmbly.org.

Check out our Asmbly Classes page for a complete listing of classes offered.

No, we don’t require an Asmbly membership to take classes. The only requirement is a free Neon account. If you don’t already have a Neon account, you can sign up for one here.

No, you are welcome to attend orientation and take classes in any order you wish, provided the class does not list a specific prerequisite (e.g. laser class before laser rotary class). The only requirement is a free Neon account. If you don’t already have a Neon account, you can sign up for one here.

No, not at this time.

Class registrations may be fully refunded at least 48 hours in advance of the class start time. If it is within 48 hours of the class start time, registrations are nonrefundable. To initiate a refund, send us an email at membership@asmbly.org. If it is within 48 hours of the class start time, it will not be possible to initiate a refund.

If you intend to reschedule for a future session of the class, we ask that you please email us at membership@asmbly.org with your requested reschedule instead of requesting a refund. We will take care of the reschedule on your behalf. This method saves us transaction fees. The same 48 hour policy applies to class reschedules, and in both cases we will abide by the time your email was sent.

We try to keep the class calendar updated as far into the future as possible. However, schedules vary and we don’t add new classes on any particular day. Be sure to sign up for notifications if you’d like to know ASAP when more sessions are added for a class. To sign up, go to the details page for that class, then click “Notify me when additional sessions are added.”

Minors are allowed to take classes at Asmbly as long as they are 13+ and accompanied by a parent/guardian. Both the parent/guardian and child must be registered for the class separately, meaning you will both need Neon accounts, and you will both pay the registration fee for the class.

In addition, you will need to sign a separate liability waiver for your minor.

Because membership is restricted to adults 18+, minors will not be able to join Asmbly as members. This means that minors will not be able to use Asmbly equipment after class.

The price of a private class will vary depending on the class and the number of attendees. The per-person fee will be the lesser of 2.5x the regular group class rate or the full-class fee divided by the number of attendees.

Example:

MIG Welding typically costs $100 per attendee with a maximum of 4 attendees, making the full-class fee $400. For a private class, the cost would be:

• 1 student – $250
• 2 students – $200/ea.
• 3 students – $135/ea.
• 4 students – $100/ea.

The price of a checkout class will vary depending on the class. Once you request a checkout class, we will email you to let you know the fee and connect you with the instructor.

While most classes have a checkout option, some classes do not. We do not offer checkouts on basic shop safety classes (Woodshop Safety and Metal Shop Safety) to ensure that all new members are aware of Asmbly-specific safety practices, and ensure that everyone has been trained to the same baseline.

Likewise, we do not offer checkouts on some of our particularly high-value machinery (e.g. CNCs and lasers), regardless of experience.

You will be asked to perform a task that a user with intermediate experience should be able to complete without help, while being supervised by an instructor. The instructor will also cover Asmbly-specific policies and procedures related to the tool. If you are successful, you will be granted access to the tool. If you are not successful, you will be asked to take the intro course on that tool.

NOTE: If you fail the checkout, you WILL NOT be refunded, nor will we apply the fee to the corresponding intro class. Keep this in mind when deciding between requesting a checkout and taking the usual intro class.

Send us an email at classes@asmbly.org with your background, teaching experience, and the class(es) you’d like to teach, and we will get back to you.

Please note that prior teaching experience is not required but you will need experience in the subject matter. If you have a suggestion for a class we do not offer please reach out to the above contact with your ideas.

There are a number of factors that determine how much teachers are paid for a class. Please read through the Teaching at Asmbly wiki page to learn more.

Send us an email at classes@asmbly.org with your background, teaching experience, and the class(es) you’d like to teach, and we will get back to you.

Please note that we will expect a higher level of experience in the subject matter than we would normally expect for a regular class.