BRING OUT THE OLD…..
As soon as our metalwork machining requirements for any individual item hit any sort of quantity, we contract the work out to a local Company whom we have been happily using for years. But that leaves a large and growing amount of other work, for requirements such as custom design or modifications, new product development, or anything that has become particularly urgent.
This has become more than our current lathe, which has served us well for many years, can now handle, so sadly, it has become time to put that dear old machine out to grass. Almost literally in fact, as it’s being moved into a room in our stables area. However, there is no need to shed any tears for the poor beast, as it will actually have a whole new lease of life out there! It will also be in good company, as it will be sharing that space with our old milling machine, bandsaw and belt sander. These are all still in regular use by our production department for such operations as the machining of custom front and rear panels, which don’t require the micron precision that our CNC mill or the new CNC lathe can so easily provide.
But even that’s not entirely true, as the lathe, like the old mill, had been fitted with accurate numerical readouts, so the new one won’t necessarily offer greater precision. What it WILL offer is greater speed in obtaining that precision, which we do now sorely need.
So what else, or should I say who else, do we need? Someone else to join Mark and especially our CNC guru Callum, to help keep these machines fully fed with work! But we don’t use recruiting agencies, as the grapevine always works better for us, so we are hereby announcing this opportunity to join us in making large quantities of swarf (but all recycled of course!).
So what’s going into that space instead? Just come back again next week to take a look!
Photo gallery below showing journey of manual lathe from official Cairn workshop to outside stables…
