New boy in Bristol UK saying hello

[ManorFarmer]

Hi - I am a very small (i.e. just me most of the time!) general machining shop in the SW of the UK (near Bristol Airport). I do NOT do mega production runs but am more likely to be producing one-off prototypes (working with the local Universities and their spin-off start-ups) or repairing obsolete bits of farm machinery for local farmers! I also build steam engines for steam launches - large ones, that carry people, not toys.

I have a Harrison Alpha 330+ lathe, a Hurco KM3 mill, Jones and Shipman 540 surface grinder, Kearns Horizontal Borer, a Cressida cylindrical grinder (if anyone has every heard of this brand please get in touch as I cannot find anything on it - not even Lathes.co.uk has any info!), 10" horizontal bandsaw, 12" throat vertical bandsaw, Brierly drill grinder (that I never use nowadays!) and all the normal 'stuff'. I use Autodesk Inventor for my CAD/CAM but feel that I will have to bite the bullet and transition to Fusion eventually - a hard choice as I am both old and have been using Inventor for over 20 years.

 

[Alan]

Welcome to the CNC forum, and glad to have someone from Bristol join in. Sounds like you’ve got a really interesting mix of work going on. Always nice to see shops that handle everything from university prototypes to old machinery repairs. That Cressida grinder is a new one for me too. Does it run well for your kind of jobs? Feel free to share a bit more about it because someone here might recognise the model even if it’s not something you find online.

 

[Lt_Dhuran]

Welcome from across the pond. That’s a seriously interesting mix of work you’re doing, especially the steam engine builds like most of us only cut those as tiny hobby projects. The Cressida grinder mystery is a new one; even this forum may need to dig deep for that.

 

[Jon S]

Another hi, also from the UK, my work is even smaller than yours, mostly in aluminium and brass on a flatbed CNC and laser. I have done a few student projects, mostly their end of year exam exhibits.

 

[Kahran_Ramsus]

That’s an impressive mix of work and machines for a one-person shop. Sounds like you get to solve some really interesting problems day to day. One-off prototypes, farm repairs, and steam engines is a great combo. Would love to hear more about the steam launch builds sometime.

 

[LeonBelmont]

oh cool someone from the UK.