Manual turning is the building block for lathe operators and six new manual machines will helps them to understand the turning process and acquire the basic skills.

Coleg Menai in Bangor, one of the largest Further Education colleges in North Wales, has significantly extended its engineering teaching facilities by acquiring six new Harrison V350 high-speed lathes to add to its six Harrison M300 centre lathes and an Alpha 1330S manual/CNC lathe. The latest machines, which were supplied to the college's Faculty of Technology by Harrison's main regional distributor, [DATAMACH] were grant-funded through ELWa (the National Council for Education and Training for Wales) as part of a GBP 1.5 million technical upgrade programme at the college. Colin Parry, a lecturer in the faculty, introduces groups of local school pupils (14-16s) and an annual intake of around 35 post-16 year old full time college students on a one-year performing Engineering Operations course to basic engineering skills like manual turning.

He explained: 'Most engineering and metalworking workshops have disappeared from schools and so now when the apprentices start out on their courses they have no hands-on experience.' Parry said: 'It is particularly good for the 14-16s to be able to come to the college - it gives them an insight into some of the skills involved and they also receive a qualification at the end of the course.' 'Manual turning is the building block for lathe operators and we believe that operating the manual machine helps them to understand the turning process and acquire the basic skills.

The M300 centre lathe is the ideal first training machine and the new V350 machines give us considerably more flexibility.

These lathes are bigger and have a constant surface speed facility which is very useful in a training context.

When we had the opportunity for funding for these extra lathes, we definitely wanted to buy British.' Parry added:'We have had foreign-made lathes in the past and had problems with maintenance issues.

The Harrison M300 lathes we got last year are very reliable and popular with the students and lecturers, and Harrison has a good brand name.' Apprentices who attend the college's one-year full-time course advance onto a three-year day-release scheme, supported by their employers, and during this time have a further opportunity to progress to using the Alpha 1330S manual/CNC lathe.

The college's facility, incorporating a state-of-the-art computer aided design (CAD) suite to which the Alpha 1330S is networked, represents the ideal way for local companies who are upgrading their own workshops with CNC lathes to train their young engineers: 'With the requirements of the local economy and investment by local engineering-based companies developing all the time, it is vital for us to keep pace with the technology and what is happening out in the market place'.

'Local companies send their staff here to receive training on this type of machine'.

'They realise that this modern technology represents the future for their industry,' said Parry.

Harrison Lathes' sales director, David Smith, said :'I am delighted the students and staff at the Faculty of Technology at Coleg Menai have found this ongoing partnership with Harrison so useful in training the engineers of tomorrow'.

'I am confident that the latest six V350 lathes they have acquired will enable the students to maximise their skills and prepare them well with the turning skills they will require in their careers and everyone at Harrison wishes them well.'