"The workshop is amazing and the teaching staff are really knowledgable."

CAMERON HUGHES,  ENGINEERING

Engineering student Cameron Hughes was so inspired by the 3D printers at the IoT’s Preston College site that he bought his own to use at home.

The 16-year-old regularly sets his own mini projects, using industry-standard software to design items that he then 3D prints – anything from prototypes of aircraft parts to something a bit more surprising.

“I’d been making little models and parts on the 3D printers at college but I just thought, why don’t I buy my own,” he says. “I’m always setting myself little projects away from the things we do on the course, like designing a turbine for an aircraft, but I also designed and printed a Batman mask for my brother.”

Cameron, who has set his sights on a career with aerospace manufacturer BAE Systems, is enjoying his course so far, which includes design and development skills within engineering.  A particular highlight has been a project to design a buoy to a set budget, price up the product and pitch it to tutors at the end.

“We also were given a trolley to fix that the marketing department uses, that kept breaking so they kept having to replace it with the same model,” he says. “We were able to reverse engineer it so that we fitted a new 3D-printed part and it hasn’t broken since.”

He said he would recommend everyone come to see what the IoT has to offer. “It’s really good here, the workshop is amazing and the teaching staff are really knowledgeable,” Cameron says. “I come to help at open days to speak to visitors and I always tell people to come on this course.”