Engineering for Girls at MAZAK

As part of our Careers programme, six RGS girls spent four days at MAZAK last week as part of their first ever Girls only Industrial Cadet week. The programme provides the opportunity for girls to experience the world of engineering and learn how manufacturing works.

To find out all about their experience, read the extracts of their daily blogs below:

Emily Furniss:

At the start of the day, everyone was involved in ice breakers to get to know each other. The logical thinking test was interesting as it produced a variety of scores. The factory tour was also not what I expected as there are far fewer people than I originally thought worked there. However, my favourite part was the talk by Dr John Liverton who explained what the function of each is and the differences between turning and milling and the green paper process.

Helena Morgan and Carys Gaynor-Smith:

Yesterday, we both were on Turrets, Ballscrews and magazines. At first, we screwed different parts into a steel brick using Loctite and a large spanner. Afterwards we had to thread the hole ready to add the additional parts to the turret. After lunch we had to bend the poles to fit around the turret, the poles had to be bent to 90 degrees.

Amy Murphy and Emily Furniss:

Our first activity was in the ‘Sheet Metal Department’. We made a named box and a spider. We had to start off by symbolising, profiling and nesting our drawings ready to be sent to the machine. It was very interesting to see and learn how many different processes go into the making one item, as well as the processes of welding.

Ellie Carey and Imogen Sinclair:

In the afternoon we had a machining demonstration from David Winyard. David showed us a demonstration of the QT compact 200MY turning and milling machine. He also demonstrated how simple programming the machines can be, using Mazak’s conversational Mazatrol language. The Smooth controller allows customers to view their product in 3D on a variety on axis with a milling and turning simulation. It was interesting to see how many different functions a single machine can have!