Despite the continuous disruption and challenges faced due to covid, Kai Green has worked hard over the last 12 months to finish his qualification with impressive results. Kai has just finished his 2nd year of 4 Year apprenticeship with Appris. Due to finish on the 29th of July but has already completed it by the 5th of May (2 months early), with a distinction no less. He’s been working at Bronte Precision Engineering for 4 days a week and attending college 1 day a week but will now work at Bronte 5 days a week until he starts his Level 3 NVQ in September.
Our Marketing Manager, Frances sat down with Kai to discuss his apprenticeship.
Frances – What have you learnt in your Level 2 Machining NVQ?
Kai – There are 5 modules to the NVQ:
Healthy and Safety
Turning
Machining Principles
CAD + Hand Drawing
Materials
We learnt about health and safety requirements and procedures in an engineering environment. It included wearing correct PPE and safety boots, Risk and COSH assessments and how to spot hazards. Then, how to meet regulations and the roles expected of employers and employees.
In the Turning modules we learnt how to use manual lathes including screw cutting. We even made a plum bob and how to use a pillar drill as well. Then in the Mechanical Principles module it was all about learning cutting speeds, feeds and equations on CNC machines. You need to use different chucks and drills depending on the part so knowing how to set up all the tools correctly and centered, that’s important. They showed us how to do this by using shims and packing then checking the chuck the tool was correct / parallel. I also learnt about choosing speeds and depth for cuts depending on the material you’re working with. Materials (science and math’s) is another module where we went more in depth into Metallurgy.
In the CAD module, there were 2 assessments, 1 where we were asked to change the angle projections of a part and another where we had to recreate a finished CAD drawing. There was also some hand drawing and we had to do 19 different ones with angle projections to complete the module. There was a test at the end of each module and your final grade is based on your totals across all of them.
Frances – Out of all the modules and your apprenticeship, what did you enjoy the most?
Kia – I enjoyed the CAD and hand drawing the most. I’ve never done it before and it’s something I was really interested in doing. It gives you the opportunity as a multi skilled engineer to develop my design knowledge in future as well.
Frances – You’ll be spending 5 days a week at Bronte until you start your level 3 in September. What’s your typical day at Bronte include?
Kia – I set up the machines with the correct tooling and offsets. I have basic knowledge of all the turning machines at Bronte, we have Hass, Harrison and Pinacho CNCs. I can read programs, so I know what tools to use and how to set and make edits depending on material size.
Frances – I think people would also like to know a bit about you. Where are you from and what you enjoy doing outside of work.
Kia – I’m 20, from Bradford. I like to go out with friends and play football.
Frances – Important question, who do you support?
Kia – Liverpool.
Frances – Good stuff. It’s been really interesting to learn more about you and your machining apprenticeship. We’re all very proud of what you’ve accomplished so far, especially with challenges of covid over the past year. Thank you for talking to me today. Any final comments?
Kai – I’ve enjoyed learning more about the trade in my 2nd year both at Bronte and college. I’m looking forward to starting my level 3 and developing my programming skills further.
If you have any questions or would like to send through a machining enquiry please contact us
either by email at mail@bpel.co.uk or call us on +44 (0) 1274 698 900.
