Another successful visit from local Prep School Friday 27th June 2014.

An invite was made to the School to offer an insight to the world of engineering and manufacturing.   After two successful trips I am sure we have created some interest and hopefully some future engineers.

After the initial health and safety briefing in the quiet reception area where they were given safety glasses to wear around the factory floor, pupils were shown the large laser cutter first, a machine capable of cutting up to 20mm mild steel using up to 4KW of electricity. When compared to a standard 40W lightbulb, this helped the pupils put this into context! The pupils were also given a quiz about the machines as well the health and safety processes employed at the factory.

The pupils were then shown the large CNC punch and the press brake/folder which is capable of providing up to 170 tonnes of force. The press is used to bend large sheets of stainless steel or mild steel into complicated shapes or products such as the aluminium casing for a automatic speed limit sign that we were shown.

The final highlight of the trip was the chance to have a go at controlling C3′s newest machine, the CNC lathe. We were lucky to be offered the opportunity to control this complex machine, and enjoyed seeing the mild steel blank being turned into a flange for an agricultural sprayer.

After lunch, pupils were given gifts of stainless steel butterflies or bi-plane toys, along with the key rings that C3 had laser cut, having been created using CAD at school.