Anyone work with Composites?
Discussion
Just wondering if anyone here is involved with composite work, more in terms of being a composite laminator or trimmer in either aerospace, motorsport or anything similar? Just wondering what's the work like, pay, conditions etc?. Just want a bit of an insight into it if possible.
Thanks for reading.
Thanks for reading.
Hi, I work with a recruitment company within the Automotive trades section, so deal with Caterham F1, Lotus F1, Mercedes F1, Mclaren etc.
As for pay.. it depends, I generally deal with the contract side of work so the hourly wage is generally quite good as it has to meet AWR legislation.
Composite work does come up quite often, if you want to PM me and I can give you my work email for you to send me your CV.
One thing I would say is that F1 guys tend to swap from F1 company to F1 company as it pays higher and they have the relevant experience already, which is beneficial for the fast paced F1 environment.
Merlin75 - How long have you worked at Caterham for? Is it Caterham Composites or Caterham F1?
As for pay.. it depends, I generally deal with the contract side of work so the hourly wage is generally quite good as it has to meet AWR legislation.
Composite work does come up quite often, if you want to PM me and I can give you my work email for you to send me your CV.
One thing I would say is that F1 guys tend to swap from F1 company to F1 company as it pays higher and they have the relevant experience already, which is beneficial for the fast paced F1 environment.
Merlin75 - How long have you worked at Caterham for? Is it Caterham Composites or Caterham F1?
Well I have worked in composites for 29 yrs (since I left school at 16),mostly in F1 with 3yrs doing the speed8 Bentley for LeMans and a couple of years doing Dakar an DTM for VW/Audi so covered most things.
Composites is a trade that has undergone a massive amount of change in the last 30 yrs and continues to do so. Many diffrent sectors to the trade these day with new sectors and companies all the time with everything from wind turbine blades to boomerangs !
There is a niche defence sector but the 2 main places for the trade are motorsport and aircraft and alough you will get contractors heading to the aircraft when F1 slows down in the summer mainly they stay as 2 very distinct camps.
Planes normally you will be doing large flat sections or engine cowls with gentle curves,VERY strict quality controls and regemented procedures.
Motorsport its smaller more complex parts which normally someone wants yesterday and the rules get bent quite often !
You tend to find the plane boys dont like F1 an visa versa its all about horses for courses and your attitude and outlook on things
The actual "work" is pretty easy these days at the more established firms, in the old days you would have to help with the pattern,s ,rub them down and polish by hand ,design the split lines and flange the pattern ,make the mould ,make the part (which included making the templates and cutting the material yourself by hand),making the part ,strip ot ,trim it and fit to the car.
Now you get multiple CNC machined patterns with all the flanges machined on,Your kit of material will come pre cut and there will be a seperate trim shop.
These improvememts are one reason thou that most of the F1 boys are "old scholl" and lots of the people who are doing it now were doing it 20 years ago and are employed as much for what they know as what they do
Pay varies F1 used to be massive hrs and people were hourly paid now most places are salary and its more sensible hrs.
Williams are the only team doing hourly,some people do 40 others want the money and do 80 hrs a week they are around the £20 hr mark
Other teams are paying £43k ish top rate but also variesr greatly as there are 2 and 3 shift systems in operation and 3/4 day weekend shift patterns in operation with shift allowences you can get into the £55k area.
Lots of composites firms have sprung up in the last 20 years to service the growing demand,everything from 300 strong to 1 man bands some of the larger ones are good to work for and you can be on £14/£16 hr but as with every firm you cant have everyone on that scale and there are lots of £6 hr jobs.
There are also lots of people been in the game a couple of years,thought "this is easy money" and set up and are trying to get in the big leauge and some are little beter than sweatshops.
There is lots of contracting work in composites varys greatly from 1 week to a year+ depends on experiance but varies £12/14 hr to £18ish for the independant firms ,£18 to 22 in F1 and if you head to Germany/Italy you can be on 28-35 euro hr.
Give me an idea of where you are/what your plans are and I can give you some more advise thats specific to you and your plans
Composites is a trade that has undergone a massive amount of change in the last 30 yrs and continues to do so. Many diffrent sectors to the trade these day with new sectors and companies all the time with everything from wind turbine blades to boomerangs !
There is a niche defence sector but the 2 main places for the trade are motorsport and aircraft and alough you will get contractors heading to the aircraft when F1 slows down in the summer mainly they stay as 2 very distinct camps.
Planes normally you will be doing large flat sections or engine cowls with gentle curves,VERY strict quality controls and regemented procedures.
Motorsport its smaller more complex parts which normally someone wants yesterday and the rules get bent quite often !
You tend to find the plane boys dont like F1 an visa versa its all about horses for courses and your attitude and outlook on things
The actual "work" is pretty easy these days at the more established firms, in the old days you would have to help with the pattern,s ,rub them down and polish by hand ,design the split lines and flange the pattern ,make the mould ,make the part (which included making the templates and cutting the material yourself by hand),making the part ,strip ot ,trim it and fit to the car.
Now you get multiple CNC machined patterns with all the flanges machined on,Your kit of material will come pre cut and there will be a seperate trim shop.
These improvememts are one reason thou that most of the F1 boys are "old scholl" and lots of the people who are doing it now were doing it 20 years ago and are employed as much for what they know as what they do
Pay varies F1 used to be massive hrs and people were hourly paid now most places are salary and its more sensible hrs.
Williams are the only team doing hourly,some people do 40 others want the money and do 80 hrs a week they are around the £20 hr mark
Other teams are paying £43k ish top rate but also variesr greatly as there are 2 and 3 shift systems in operation and 3/4 day weekend shift patterns in operation with shift allowences you can get into the £55k area.
Lots of composites firms have sprung up in the last 20 years to service the growing demand,everything from 300 strong to 1 man bands some of the larger ones are good to work for and you can be on £14/£16 hr but as with every firm you cant have everyone on that scale and there are lots of £6 hr jobs.
There are also lots of people been in the game a couple of years,thought "this is easy money" and set up and are trying to get in the big leauge and some are little beter than sweatshops.
There is lots of contracting work in composites varys greatly from 1 week to a year+ depends on experiance but varies £12/14 hr to £18ish for the independant firms ,£18 to 22 in F1 and if you head to Germany/Italy you can be on 28-35 euro hr.
Give me an idea of where you are/what your plans are and I can give you some more advise thats specific to you and your plans
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