Talks by Isaac Auty & Martins Golubevs
The February event this year was held at our Morley lecture venue and after being cajoled by our president (their former college lecturer) John Aldersley we were given talks by two of our young engineer members, Isaac & Martins, who are also members of council of the association. John kindly sent these reports on the evening which was greatly enjoyed by the members and their guests present.
Here are John’s reports:-
“Isaac’s talk was about wire erosion, aka EDM electric discharge machining. He gave a very informed talk about his wire erosion machine, how he held the parts, set the machine up, setting datums, calibrating using the wire and the extreme accuracy of the method of using a very thin small diameter wire to cut intricate profiles in multi axis planes. Those in attendance found it very interesting, with Isaac using both technical and layman’s terms. The fact that the machine was so accurate, could be run by its self when the company was closed, using cheap electricity in something called lights out was fascinating. We learned that in some instances, the machine can reset itself, in the event that the wire should break, and how a water-like solution (dielectric) is used to keep the work cool, also how the machine can re-thread the wire. Isaac showed us parts he had made, some were hardened stainless and tool steels, that would prove very difficult to machine any other way, with near sharp corners that are impossible to achieve using conventional milling cutters. Plenty of Q & A followed the 45 min talk.”
“Martins’ talk was about his achievements and goals and he is obviously very keen to achieve his goals. From his pastimes of rock climbing and outdoor pursuits, he has a Duke of Edinburgh gold medal, which is no mean achievement. His work follows a similar line, being driven, having achieved maths at A-level, and only still an apprentice, he has taken up a production engineering role at Kirkstall Precision Engineering. Martins has a good understanding of turning, including sliding head (Swiss Autos, funnily enough Japanese machines) also CNC milling, this in its self is not a common thing, as engineers especially young engineers, tend to be either a turner or a miller. Martins also knows his way around EDM albeit not to the level of Isaac.
Martins has taken on extra work, learning CAD and CAM and doing complicated drawings using CAD to aid his fellow apprentice Cameron for his World Skills competition. We saw some of his CAD drawings and a pen he had turned on a centre lathe in his spare time. All this is quite remarkable from a person of this age. All who attended the lectures, with two exceptions, was at least 30 years their seniors and found the talks to be exceptional, with several saying that they wouldn’t have been able to do that at the ages Isaac and Martins are. Unfortunately, their colleague Cameron Pinder was away on a training course and hopefully he will offer a talk at a later date. As with Isaac’s talk there was a very interesting Q & A session following.”
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