Engineering students at Cornwall College recently responded to a plea for help from the owner of Rupert, a retired greyhound that was struggling to walk due to chronic arthritis in his back legs.

They designed and manufactured a special harness made out of aluminium, titanium and carbon fibre.

Engineering lecturer Luke Bazeley said: “We created an integrated team with various roles to simulate a real engineering environment, and the students switched roles throughout the project to gain as much experience as possible.”

The parts for the harness were initially sketched out on paper before being finalised using Mastercam software. This data for the main frame of the harness was then transferred to the college’s XYZ Mini Mill 560 vertical machining centre for milling, profiling and drilling, with other fittings being turned on the workshop’s XYZ SLX 1630 ProTURN lathe (www.xyzmachinetools.com).

In addition to using the capabilities of the Siemens and ProtoTrak CNC systems to verify programs, the students also made use of the off-line Sinumerik simulators they had available.

As a result of the efforts of the Cornwall College students, Rupert now has improved mobility and his quality of life is vastly improved.

Mr Bazeley added: “This is a great example of how we develop students not only in their engineering skills but also in teamwork and social responsibility. We see it as vital that they gain problem-solving skills while working
under pressure and pulling together as a group to deliver the end result.”