Nexus Composite Engineering is a small business providing remote, independant, design, engineering and technical support services to the composites industry.
Please have a look around and don't hesitate to get in touch.
Motorsport
Manufacture of composite structures for Indycar, F1, Group C including chassis, wings, flaps and floors. Design of tooling & fixtures for plenums, ducts, aero parts, suspension & engine components.
Aerospace
Composite tooling design & manufacture including development of components for aero engine projects. Aircraft interior tooling design for Airbus, Boeing & Embraer.
Defence
Composites process and press tooling design for ejector seat components. Reverse engineering of legacy components for fast-jet & transport aircraft. Design of composite components, tooling & processes for full mission simulators.
Marine & ROV
Tooling & manufacturing process design for submarine mast radar structures & radomes, reverse engineering of legacy parts & process. Design of ROV composite structures, process & tooling.
Space
Design of high modulus panels for research satellites. Technical oversight & design of assembly, bonding & test fixtures for the SLOMV composite satellite launch vehicle.
Research & Development
Conversion of complex metallic parts to press moulded composites. Design of test fixtures & process for shrinkage evaluation. Rubber intensifier/vacuum bag characterisation. Catapult & Tier 1 development programmes at TRL 1-5.
Industrial
Composite tooling design and part manufacture including CMM arms, imaging frames, high speed machine components, printing equipment & camera gimbal assemblies.
Automotive
Design of composite tooling & manufacturing processes for low volume supercar programmes including bodywork, structural elements and battery box assemblies.
Medical
Composite process & tooling development for prosthetic applications. Tooling design for monolithic & sandwich panel structures for X-Ray and treatment couches.
Radome & Comms
Electronic enclosures, EMI protection (deposition coatings, metalised fibres, loaded paints). Design concept sudies on large housings. Tooling design for uplink antennas, legacy UAT and navigation radomes.
Tooling Design
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Autoclave moulds
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Press moulds & preform fixtures
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Tooling process & materials selection
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3D parametric surface, solid & assembly design
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Draft analysis
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Patterns, CNC fixtures, vacuum fixtures, bond fixtures, drill jigs, caul plates/intensifiers
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Inspection & test fixtures
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Storage, racking, tables, trollies
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General assembly drawings
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GDT & detail drawings
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Block up models & drawings
NPI Engineering
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Specification reviews
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Customer drawing/definition reviews
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Flat ply profiles from 3D CAD (complexity dependent)
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Process instructions inc. lay-up books & check sheets
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Standard process specifications/documentation
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Process reviews & gap analysis
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Part-specific inspection processes
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Process specifications to ISO9001 & AS9100
Legacy/Reverse Engineering
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Reverse engineering from legacy CAD, drawings & parts
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Materials & processes to support re-qualification
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Reconstruction/repair of CAD surfaces
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Material selection and process definition/update
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Simulation to support re-qualification (externally supported)
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Legacy CAD file conversion
Research & Development
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Tooling & process design for R&D programmes
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Preforming and DDF processes
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Mandrels, bladder moulding, foam cores
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High temperature, low CTE prototype tooling
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AM/3D printed tooling technology
My composites career started at Advanced Composites Technology (later to become ACG, Umeco, Cytec now Solvay).
I had the benefit of hands-on experience working on hundreds of composite chassis including Indycar, Formula 1, Group C, Formula Atlantic, Formula 3 and thousands of other structural and aero components.
The development of tooling prepregs at ACG (LTM series) led to involvement in some very large composite tooling programmes for worldwide aerospace companies and OEM's.
In addition to my full time roles, I spent my evenings at university and was very lucky to be supported and mentored by some excellent material scientists, chemists, engineers and skilled production staff at ACG.
Fast forward to today, via different employers, colleagues, roles and projects I've been a project engineer, engineering manager, design manager, project manager, chief counsellor, design engineer, estimating engineer & technical director.
I've also had the challenges of rebuilding quality management systems, implementing MRP, factory relocations and many customer, ISO9001 and AS9100 audits.
In my most recent role, prior to setting up Nexus Composite Engineering, I provided composite technical & engineering oversight and tooling design for:
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Formula 1 2022 Season: Various structural & aero components
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UK Space Industry: Cube-sat launch vehicle
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Aerospace Commercial Jet: New engine development components
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Aerospace Business Jet: Fast-make engine development components