Hi HMEMers,
I found this super forum after getting totally fed-up with the off topic posts in the rec.crafts.metalworking NG. I registered several weeks ago and finally decided to sign-in "officially" by this post.
I live in the centre of England in a small town called Leamington Spa. I'm a retired software engineer with over 35 years experience of writing mainframe operating systems for a large computer company, but I've got over 50 years experience as a working goldsmith and jeweller; my hallmark is registered at the Birmingham Assay Office. I design and fabricate all forms of jewellery in all the precious metals - all hand made in a corner of my breakfast room/office. My avatar name,
lemelman, refers to the fact that I create
lemel, which is the archaic name for the precious metal swarf, filings and scrap created when fabricating jewellery.
I joined a model engineering club about 15 years ago and have constructed a reasonable workshop in my cellar. My main machinery is a Chester 12x36 gear-head lathe, a Centec 2B mill with a Mk3 vertical head, a Sealey bench mounted pillar drill, and a small Pultra lathe. I converted the first three to variable speed by adding VFDs, I also added DROs to the lathe and mill.
Although I've yet to build a model engine, I've made quite a few parts for the rolling stock of the club's miniature railway, but most of my workshop time is spent in making things for the
Remap panel for which I do voluntary work.
Remap is probably the biggest charity you've never heard of - basically, if a disabled person needs a piece of equipment that is not commercially available, then Remap will custom design and make it free of charge. If you want more information, see
http://www.remap.org.uk.
Remap never makes production runs; every case is different, and everything is a prototype. This makes for some very interesting challenges. I'm currently working on a powered hinge for a wheelchair to allow the backrest to be lowered to a full recline (and raised again) without removing the occupant. A major problem is the available space for the mechanism.
I do all my design-work in TurboCAD (currently V16 Pro) and use 3D modelling for everything; I even design jewellery with it.
Regards, Gary