SERC TFS Manufacturing Engineering Students Complete PBL Machinery Project

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01 June 2021

TfS Level 2 and TfS Level 3 Manufacturing Engineering students from SERC have been hard at work in assisting their tutor in creating a miniature lathe as part of their project-based learning (PBL).

Level 2 andLevel 3 Manufacturing Engineering trainees at SERC have been hard at work, assisting their tutor in creating a miniature lathe as part of their project-based learning (PBL).

The two-year project has recently been completed.

Tutor Kelvin McGreeghan, SERC Lecturer in Engineering, comments, “Making a machine is a complex project that requires students to be able to make parts that all have to fit together and function, this is as close to real life manufacturing as it gets here in the college. I came from an aerospace background, and made parts for aircraft; it was just the same as this, parts were manufactured in different places and by different people, and they all had to fit and work together. Turning is one of the skills that these students are taught, so they were already interested in it, and demonstrated their turning skills in helping to make the parts for the lathe.”

The last student to work on the project before completion, Kyle Roddy, 19, said, “Working on the lathe and mill has shown me what is possible with the skills that I have learned. During the project I learnt to work with tight tolerances and very precise measurements. This was important because all parts had to be able to fit and operate together without any additional stress on them. My initial skills were gained though my NVQ within the college and at my engineering workplace.”

You can see the lathe in action below:

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