Interesting machines you've worked on or had close connection with

Following on from other recent threads, I’ve had involvement with stuff going on both of these (and actually spent considerable time on board one) – and no that doesn’t make me as old as you might think

Anybody else had close involvement with anything interesting?

I once rode a bike.

I repaired one of these once

A few of the platforms i’ve worked with..

I play with these on a regular basis. In fact this exact one is the focus of my work right now, not my photo by the way.

Nothing with wings I’m afraid but I’ve kept this going on a shoestring. Replacing both front springs, rebuilding the brakes, and fettling the fuel pumps.

My dad swapped his LWB Land Rover for this. He needed to do a bit of a Jack and the Beanstalk style explaining to my mum. It had a Rolls Royce petrol engine. An air raid style siren and almost an anti aircraft scale searchlight, oh and and a bell!

I figured I’d always regret not keeping my first Mini – so I restored it – thrashed it with a 1400cc engine – sold it to my brother – who promptly sold it for twice what he paid me.

I restored this, after my dad gave up on it in the ’50’s.

I did some work on snoopy

The Hummingbird FPSO. The circular hull negates the need for a £xx million rotating turret for the risers. The downside is that it doesn’t weathervane so the waves take a bigger toll than on a conventional hull design.

I was going to say a silage silo but after seeing what I am up against I will shut up.

I have had 2 mini pickups they go for silly money now.

Honestly, I cleaned the toilets on this and couple of other battleships when they were in Devonport:

…and made 18000 hot dog rolls a day in something much like this:

..and flushed a gazillion bedpans away in one of these:

…but i suppose the one my grandchildren will ask me about is this:

Honestly, I cleaned the toilets on this and couple of other battleships…..

Well if that’s the criteria………..I’ve washed and vacuumed cleaned quite a few of these :

Helping in a small way to make this become a viable reality.

Me another bloke built the main structure for this:

http://www.diamond.ac.uk/

i supply some nice kit for this:

and this for that matter:

and was all over these for a while:

Most recently:

I rebuilt part of the Pegasus engine on one of these once:

When the engine had been put back in the Harrier, they tested them by chaining the plane down to a massive steel grid over a concrete pit, firing the engine up to full power and tested the strain of it. The noise was unbelievable, the plane bucking and straining against the pull of the massive steel chains and the retaining grid.

I used to run a 500kw TRIGA pulsing research reactor…

I also worked at the Tevatron and Cornell LEPP:

I built some lego once……

I’ve rebooted a fair few of these in the wee small hours

(nothing to do with ‘warhawk btw, that makes it nearly sound exciting 🙁

Lots of tinkering with old Citroens for me (I find them interesting!)…..

Sadly this one is no more following a big crash at Lidden Hill
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…and this one now lives in with someone else (but funded a new bike!) – has 4WD and diff locks….
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…I also had a couple more modified ones but don’t have any pictures.

I made spaceships…(it wasn’t my bit that broke, honest !)…

Saipem 7000 Crane barge…it builds oil installations at sea.

My first job was operating one of these

Used to microfilm stuff for Thorn EMI, included loads of schematics for bombs.

been on, in and under a couple of these – pulling bits off and trying to put them back. also spent a lot of time pushing them up and down the road.
unreliable money-pits. 🙂

Saipem 7000 Crane barge

Those things are ENORMOUS. I think there’s probably only one bit of kit that has more of a “Holy Cow” factor:

my dad worked on this (the hubble)

more specifically, the solar panels, iirc.

used to work a 6 colour flexographic printing press for a year when i left school, was interesting setting the machine up, positioning plates, feeding the paper, setting the diecutter, mixing inks, uv varnish etc, boring as hell standing reeming off a run of 500,000 boxes/cartons type stuff.. mind you used to get a shot on the forks lifts too which was great!:D

Some fairly impressive stuff there.
My own offering is nothing in comparison, and not really a machine

But I have worked on this which is way, way cooler.

marked one of these up with lots of little numbered stickers, ripped it to pieces with a mechanical digger, transported the bits 500 miles in three artic trucks, then blew the bits into smithereens with C4 explosives, det cord and something much, much more frightening. Meticulously gathered all the bits, transported it again, then pieced it all back together.

I make the brackets that hold the wings on a eurofighter. I refuse to call it the typhoon.

heh. I always though that huge mining machine was a photoshop.

I maintain, modify & improve high volume production machinery that produces car tyres for some of the most prestigious car manufacturers in the world.

And my discount is crap.

I designed a fuel delivery control system for one of these…

@ Samuri
Nope, it’s a real thing, called a ‘Bagger’. They holes they excavate are so huge that some baggers have been burried in them in the past when the lignite has been excavated. it was not deemed economic to remove and recycle the excavator. Common sight near a friends place, just outside of Cologne.

I refuse to call it the typhoon.

Too right. I always call it the EF2000. You are involved with the project you say?

Someone brought me one of these once..

Rock and roll!

I’ve seen the big machine that makes all the frozen chips in the Findus factory in Kings Lynn.

At one point, all the chips are belting along, about 60 abreast like a giant scalextric, and they go over a jump – at which point an air jet blows any of them with black bits into the discard. Unless they’re doing the Aldi or Tesco Value ranges, when they leave the black ones (and little slivers) in.

I’m in this picture assembling the power-take-off for the world first grid connected wave power machine. Was a nice project.

Also used to be quite heavily involved designing the engines for machines like this: