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Hello To You All!


bagpuss_24

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Hello to you all!

 

Kind of just signed up.

 

Trained as a domestic/industrial electrician.

After a redundancy, took a job with Thorn Security and worked removing/installing Intruder Alarm systems between 1994 and 1999 (Until the merger).

 

While at Thorn, I was lucky enough to work with some of the more senior engineers, many of which had to manufacture equipment on-site during the early days- I was also fortunate enough to work with security alarm equipment dating from the 1950s up to the more modern equpment.

It was seeing the variety of methods used in years gone by that sparked my intrest in vintage kit!
 

Moved on in 1999 to work in the Film Industry as a "Practicals Electrician"; building anything from simple boxes with flashing lights, to light-sabers, sonic-screw drivers, control panels, electronic props, animatronics and anything else with wires and resistors!

 

 

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  • 3 months later...

Interesting line of work. I think I worked on some of those old panels too! Can't beat a box full of relays and LEDs

Wayne.

 

LED's! Blimey on some of the kit I saw, they used 6v or 12v filament lamps and an analogue meter!. LED's didn't exist.

As you say, you can't beat a box full of relays and some batteries.

 

One of my last jobs with Thorn was ripping out a 1964ish 'AFA' set up in an old Record Shop.

The Panel was immaculate- clean, no scratches, stickers etc. The Internal Blue Bell box was immaculate.

Even the external Red drum box was in very good nick (as it wasn't fully exposed to the elements.)

It was heading towards a skip - until it was OK'd by my Service Manager, to take it - to donate to a Police museum who were intrested in it as part of a display- and then was closed by their local council. So it never made it there.

 

It is still working today on my workshop - despite a minor mod as the Flag Cells are hard and expensive to come by - so runs from a 6V SLA and mains charger.

 

Thanks for the welcomes, great to meet you all.

I have never visted Pinewood; though my brother worked down there quite a bit as a carpenter during the 1990s.

I would have loved to have been down there in the Rank hey days...not sure about Babs Knockers though!!!! ;-)

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  • 1 year later...

I also worked at Thorn, the G type some one mentioned also had a variant made by SPD (special projects division) which was installed in banks, It had the analog meter with the addition with a time lock to lock out the vault

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