pattern makers plane

[Bracken3621]

It's not a dying trade as you may think.

They will always need Pattern Makers granted times have changed but " there is nothing new, just a variation of the old."

Shrinking Trade might be more appropriate, I was made redundant last year and decided to try to get an apprenticeship as a patternmaker, speaking to about 15 pattern shops and foundries they all had a similar answer in the vein of
"We need to replace someone who's retiring soon, and would be interested in taking someone on... But sales are down and we need them to stabilise before we take anyone on, can you contact us next spring if you're still looking"

I had a long chat with the owner of one foundry, who was explaining how their sand casting operations had changed over time to accommodate larger and more complex pours in increasingly high specifications of alloys, and we both lamented the O&G downturn.

The Plastic's & Carbon Fiber are moving fast as is the Motor Designers. Patter Makers have many strings to their bow, best to think out side the box but a good balanced apprenticeship helps I agree, did you ask them for some work experience ? There are so many way to skin a cat " as they say " If the company see you are so keen as to work/learn you may get a foot in the door ? + help for you and them is available.

 

[dickm]

Slightly off topic, but are any patterns 3-D printed these days? Daughter reckons there isn't a printable plastic that can replace wax for lost-wax jewellry work, but wondered if it could be used for sandcasting in place of yellow pine?

 

[Sheffield Tony]

We had some aluminium castings made last year, I think they were done in sand moulds using patterns machined from some sort of laminated MDF.

I have a much more modest pattern makers plane than Andy's - it is somewhere at the back of the cupboard since there's not a lot of use for them in regular woodworking. I can post a picture if anyone's interested. It has a wooden body with 5 interchangeable bases/irons.

 

[arnoldmason8]

Slightly off topic, but are any patterns 3-D printed these days? Daughter reckons there isn't a printable plastic that can replace wax for lost-wax jewellry work, but wondered if it could be used for sandcasting in place of yellow pine?

For one off castings, patterns can be made from plastic foam and this is a well established process in the steam loco restoration field. I don't know if this foam can be 3D printed - probably not - but could be N/C machined. If you just need one casting then cosiderable cost savings can be made - yet another nail in the coffin of patternmakers trade.

I remember the foundry manager of a company I worked for in the sixties telling me he had served a seven year apprenticeship - difficult to imagine now.

One of the key skills of a patternmaker is being able to "see" the object to be made in three dimensions from a two dimensional drawing.

Regards --- Arnold

 

[Jelly]

It's not a dying trade as you may think.

They will always need Pattern Makers granted times have changed but " there is nothing new, just a variation of the old."

Shrinking Trade might be more appropriate, I was made redundant last year and decided to try to get an apprenticeship as a patternmaker, speaking to about 15 pattern shops and foundries they all had a similar answer in the vein of
"We need to replace someone who's retiring soon, and would be interested in taking someone on... But sales are down and we need them to stabilise before we take anyone on, can you contact us next spring if you're still looking"

I had a long chat with the owner of one foundry, who was explaining how their sand casting operations had changed over time to accommodate larger and more complex pours in increasingly high specifications of alloys, and we both lamented the O&G downturn.

The Plastic's & Carbon Fiber are moving fast as is the Motor Designers. Patter Makers have many strings to their bow, best to think out side the box but a good balanced apprenticeship helps I agree, did you ask them for some work experience ? There are so many way to skin a cat " as they say " If the company see you are so keen as to work/learn you may get a foot in the door ? + help for you and them is available.

I'm still thinking about it seriously, fortunately (but not so good for my long term ambitions), I've ended up getting another reasonably paid job in chemistry, and I'm the sole earner until at least another 18 months (missus is doing a Medical Degree)... Apprentice rates are better than the dole, but I can't really justify making life that much harder just to chase after more job satisfaction right now.

This said, I actually need some replacement cast parts for a machine, so am tempted to have a bash at making my own pattern for it, with reference to a lot of printed literature, and likely an excessive amount of time taken. Certainly if I get round to doing that and it works, that would be a useful piece to keep around for any future conversations with pattern shops.