The object shown is a clamp which, along with its five friends, holds the engine room roof in place.

The five component parts of the assembly are drawn on Solidworks CAD, laser cut (including cutting the weld preparations) in 10mm thick S275J/JR mild steel and sub-fabricated in a jig off the loco. They are then welded into position using 1mm ER70 wire with a Argon/CO2 shield.

The weld process was approved by an independent engineer as were the stress calculations for the parts as individual pieces and as an assembly.

Following the attachment to the body a sample was tested for flaws using a Dye Penetrant (DP) process. In accordance with our Quality Management System, 10% of the total welded on the day should be tested - although in reality this amounts to one of the assemblies (you can't test 0.6% of an assembly....).

Once the dye, developer and weld residue has been cleaned off the entire area will be painted in BR Spec. 81 primer, undercoat then topcoat.

Finally, once the roof is finished and all the other relevant parts of the loco are mounted on it the roof will be secured properly by torque tightening the fasteners, locking the nut with a Nord-Lock washer and paint marking to show any movement.

Time taken for design, fabrication and preparation = 2 days.

Time taken for welding into position and taking a pretty picture = 10 minutes.