Andrew Mawson here. I'm sure I've been a member here years back, as the forum is on my quicklinks, but I've just had to register again so here's a quick introduction.

I'm a retired industrial control Computer Engineer, spent a lifetime in realtime computer control of things like oil refinery's, steel mills, military command centres, 999 mobilisation systems, prison security systems - quite a varied range of industries which has been very interesting.

When I retired I bought a small farm as it let me create my 'ultimate workshop' in a barn. I've spent the last few years bringing back to life various CNC machines that otherwise would have been scrapped. My time is my own now, and I am unashamedly playing.

Now up and running I've:

A/ A Beaver Partsmaster CNC milling machine with a Heidenhain TNC355 controller

B/ A Fanuc Tapemaster Model M Wire EDM machine with a Fanuc 6M controller

C/ A Traub TND350G 5 axis lathe with a Mitubishi TX8F controller - this took me an age to understand and get working.

As well as the above I've a well equipped manual workshop with the usual lathe (Colchester Master 2500), vertical milling machine (Bridgeport), surface grinder (J&S 540) cylindrical grinder (J&S 1300) tool and cutter grinder (Clarkson Mk2), diesinking EDM machine (Eurospark H425) and a fair bit of welding and sheet metal tools including a Edwards 4 foot box pan folder, 4 foot guillotine, and a Startrite 18V bandsaw.

I don't make models despite once being Chairman of SM&EE - in fact I don't much at all apart for adaptations and modifications for my various machines. What floats my boat is getting something I don't understand (and probably not working) and getting it up and running and myself familiar with it.

Currently I'm building a PC to load up with Windows 10 (don't trust it yet as an 'upgrade' to my existing PC's) and it's my intention to download Fusion 360 to it and evaluate it for my CNC CAD / CAM. (It needs to be 64 bit and all my other machines are 32)

So, as I said - just playing in my dotage :)