"Sorry, no Welding, heavy machining or cutting demonstrations during this time for safety reasons."

Now, not many open house invitations contain disclaimers like that. But then again, the Durham TechShop isn't your average facility, either.

TechShop is a start-up that tries to, well, take the idea of the home workshop to the next high-tech level, perfect if you've dreamed of building that perfect BattleBot -- or perhaps the ultimate anti-thoroughfare illumination technology to forever darken that streetlight near you. (I'm looking at you, Ned.)

TechShop offers memberships to give you time-shared access to all those tools that you secretly wanted, but your husband or wife never let you have -- for fear the neighbors would flee to Cary the moment they peeked inside your garage:

TechShop -- a Bay Area stalwart whose founder, Jim Newton, has brought the idea east, as featured in this excellent 2008 blog post at Wired -- is holding an open house until 10pm tonight at their site near RTP off Miami Blvd., at 4022 Stirrup Creek Dr. (map)  Free food from Mama Mia's will be available until 6pm.