Hi Vivid,
I am merely one member, but this is my own personal take. You are likely to hear from other members as well.
Personally, I see VHS as a community first. We aren’t a commercial entity, and we aren’t in it for the profit. Everything that is done by VHS is done by its members, there’s no professional shop keeper, nobody to clean up after you, or maintain the tools. We all do that.
Most of us have found our way here in a similar fashion that you have. Looking to complete something specific, and we stay for other things we find. I encourage you to swing by our Tuesday open nights to fully understand what we are all about. There have certainly been some members that sign up for a month and never come back, and that’s OK; whether it was that they didn’t want to be a part of our community or that they simply got what they needed, we are happy that they found something at our space.
Some of the tools you mention, however, need training (specifically the metal lathe/mill require training). Those tools are certainly available, but scheduling-wise for training will be a bit more difficult for the one-month sort of behavior. I recommend you sign up for those now so that you can be ready when the instructors have an opening:
Check out the following threads that cover training on the Lathe and the CNC Mill.
So while I haven’t yet directly answered your question:
If you’d be more satisfied by a pay-by-the-hour location, then VHS is probably not for you, but there’s nothing stopping you from signing up for the training now, becoming a member when the instructors can train you (there’s a bit of a waiting list), and remaining member when you wish to use the space. We are more set up for continual usage, and I genuinely hope that you find the inspiration, quirky place, access to tons of cool things/parts/tools, community enough to stay and contribute more than your membership.
Regardless, I urge you to set aside a little time on a Tuesday night to drop by and say “hi” and check us out.