China

A few nice cnc precision engineering images I found:

Lattimers of Southport (Shakespeare Street)

Image by mrrobertwade (wadey)
Lattimer Ltd, Precision Engineers, 79-83 Shakespeare Street, Southport, Merseyside PR8 5AP

Supplying machines for glass bottling industry provides the regular work

Precision engineer Lattimer’s sideline goes down a bomb literally. The business based in Southport, Lancashire, makes 1,000lb MK22 practice bombs used by the RAF for its Tornados and Typhoons.

The bombs, which are also sold to foreign air forces, have to mimic the exact characteristics of the real thing. If Lattimer’s bombs varied in weight, centre of gravity and aerodynamics from the live ones, then they could affect the way the jets fly.

“[The dummy bombs] are a hollow shell not filled with explosive and are used because the air force can’t use the real thing in the UK,” said Stephen Waterhouse, CNC chief executive. “They have to go to places like Goose Bay in Canada to use the real thing.”

The bombs, which Lattimer tends to sell in batches of a few thousand every few years, are also cheaper than the real thing.

“It’s an interesting bit of business, but we have to manage peaks and troughs that go with it we completed a contract in September and are probably going to have a two-year gap until the next one so have to keep the bread-and-butter business going,”

uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/dummy-raf-bombs-keep-engineerin…