Following up on last week’s news that one of our apprentices had entered a national competition, we sat down with Joe to find out more and asked him the following questions.
Why did you decide to do an apprenticeship?
I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do when I left school so I decided to take a year out and work instead, that was until I seen an ad for a toolmaking apprenticeship online with DPF. I wasn’t really too familiar with what toolmaking actually was but after getting the interview and the tour of the company I was genuinely interested and seen it as a challenge worth trying out.
How have you been finding it so far, what have you found most valuable or beneficial?
I’ve been finding it very interesting so far. To be able to get handed a drawing and turning that drawing into a working part that both tests my skills and satisfies the customer requirements is very challenging and satisfying. Attention to detail and understanding working drawings and 3D models is a valuable skill I’m learning.
What drove you to enter the competition?
I entered the competition to challenge myself and test myself against the best in the country.
Tell us a little about the project you submitted
The project objective was to make a working injection mould. The finished project is connected to a plastic injection moulding machine and hot plastic is pumped into the piece to form a component. There was a couple of different elements to the project, a cavity, core and back plate along with shut out pins. I first modelled the parts from the drawing using solid works and then CAM programmed the parts from the 3D models using the HSM CAM package. After my programs were complete I transferred them to the hurco cnc mill where I was able to machine the parts using a combination of carbide and high-speed steel tooling.
Find out more here.