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I am presently designing large vacuum vessels and a sort of shutter for closing the port to the vessel. The vessels have to withstand the pressure of the air (about ten tons on every square metre) and the shutter has to close off the duct in one second in the event of a problem. The duct is half a  metre by one and a half metres.

I have to appreciate what will get very hot, and what will be extremely cold and design parts and work and are strong enough no matter what happens.

I have to sketch and think about how to make something that has never been made before, so lots of original thoughts are necessary. It helps to be a “natural” engineer who has spent his life working on cars, motorbikes, lawnmowers, washing machines, and computers as hobbies, and a lot of work experience with a car maker and then ten years engineering the containers (called cryostats) for MRI magnets for hospital scanner systems.

I usually have three or four “projects” going at once and it is up to me to make sure they all move along without me allowing one to be ignored until too late! This tends to be called Project Management.

Every day is different and I have to organise my own day generally. So my average day, if there is one, includes calculations using  paper and pencil, or Excel, and discussing design details with the CAD draftsman around a computer terminal, time spent on a computer writing reports and minutes of meetings, and then time engineering the loads and strength of things. I then direct the draftsman who actually draws up the final devices and makes detailed modifications to my instructions. I then check his work and sign it off before it goes to our customer with the reports about how and why it will work.

The CCFE Fund is used to support science and other projects with local schools, and to support local community groups with grants for particular pieces of equipment.

So far this has included both primary and secondary schools with a strong emphasis on the science teaching and support.