NEPA Technology brings Beamish treasures back to the future

Friday, 21st December 2007

Categories: General News

NEPA technology brings Beamish treasures back to the future

The North East Productivity Alliance (NEPA) is using innovative modern technology to help Beamish Museum give historic exhibits a new lease of life.

Beamish, County Durham's world famous open air museum showing the story of the North East during the early 1800s and early 1900s, called in the help of NEPA's Digital Factory specialists at Sunderland University to see how their new Innovation Resource Centre could help with restoration projects, including a 19th Century steam locomotive and tram.

Paul Jarman, Curator of Transport at Beamish, said: "As a museum we are obliged to look after and care for all exhibits that are housed here. My role as Curator of Transport means I am the specialist looking after all items related to transport.
"I gave the specialists damaged objects that needed to be replaced as part of restoration projects, including a steam injector from an 1877 Lewin Locomotive, a handrail off a tram and a cart hub wheel from the Victorian period, to see how they could help.

"Replica parts are usually notoriously hard and costly to source and manufacture, however with the help of the latest digital technologies available, I have been given exact prototypes which are absolutely fantastic and can now be used to manufacture new parts.

"Without NEPA's invaluable help, I would have had to try and source the parts myself, proving extremely difficult and costly, or use a wooden pattern maker, which would provide an interpretation of the part, rather than match it exactly. This would defer away from the original and we really need all restoration to be as near to the original as possible to preserve character - especially for people looking back at the exhibits in 100 years time.

"It has been fantastic to work with NEPA Digital Factory; their help has greatly speeded up the restoration process and made it far cheaper for us to be able to breathe new life into the exhibits which will hopefully include seeing the steam locomotive back in working order."

Dave Knapton, NEPA Digital Factory Lead Consultant, said: "For our work with Beamish we used the new laser scanner - part of the Innovation Resource Centre. It maps objects exactly and creates a virtual 3D part straight onto a computer, which can then be used on Computer Aided Design Systems to manufacture replica parts. This also allows any broken parts to be fixed by providing the exact measurements.

"This is the first time we have helped a museum in this way but by being involved with Beamish, it really makes you appreciate how things were made in the past when people had to do these things without the help of modern technology. It has been great working with Beamish to help them solve real problems faced during restoration."

The new laser scanner is part of the new Innovation Resource Centre available as part of NEPA's Digital Factory service. Funded by One NorthEast, Digital Factory is run for NEPA by the Advanced Manufacturing and Automotive Practice (AMAP) team, part of Sunderland University.

Digital Factory's new Innovation Resource Centre, provides North East businesses with advice, training and the latest digital technologies, including an innovative laser scanner, rapid prototype technologies, vacuum forming, 3D scanning and a five-axis milling machine.

Colin Herron, One NorthEast's Manufacturing and Productivity Manager, said: "NEPA's Digital Factory can provide assistance to businesses, from regional SMEs to international organisations involved in design, production, plant or procurement to effectively apply digital technologies.

"It assists the region's manufacturing companies to increase productivity and competitiveness by understanding and adopting the most appropriate engineering software solutions and by increasing skill levels in the use and application of digital tools across an organisation.

"Digital Factory is just one area of NEPA's work that aims to increase productivity and competitiveness in the region's businesses."

For more information please contact: Sarah Thompson, press office, One NorthEast, on Tel: 0191 229 6682/ 07917 211547, or email sarah.thompson@onenortheast.co.uk

RSS News Feeds