Member Profile

More about me:

Retired mechanical engineer living north east of Bristol.

I did a mechanical engineering apprenticeship at Rolls-Royce before leaving in 1969 to do a post graduate degree in applied thermodynamics and heat transfer. Two years of research towards a PhD followed. Realising I was becoming too specialised I abandoned academia  and joined the research centre at British Steel Tubes Division in 1974. The work was great, you could be asked to do anything and expected to be a “Jack of all trades”. It could not last, the culture was very alcoholic and BSC was dying. So I returned to the only thing I knew and became an aerothermal engineer specialising in combustion. After 30 years I retired. I now waste my time by volunteering at the company’s archives, messing about with old motorcycles (as I have been doing for the last 50 or so years) and trying to make model engines.

Workshop equipment:

Myford big bore lathe (one of the last) fully tooled – which I like

Cowells 90ME Lathe - new toy!

Wabeco F1210E milling machine – OK but a bit light-weight

Cheap Chinese band saw – horrible (sometimes I think about replacing it with a Rapidor hack saw)

FEMI band saw

Sievert propane torch with a selection of burner heads – pass the matches.

                                                                                                               Updated March 2021

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