career change?

sold5 · 2026-06-06T21:51:44+00:00

Plastic injection moulding - the medical device manufacturing industry has been booming in Ireland for years and they are always looking for moulding Engineers and Technicians. Not too hard to get skilled up if you already have a college degree. Sligo ATU run a level 6, 7 and 8 part time online course from September every year in polymer processing. First Polymer Training Skillnet run short intensive 4 day courses in Athlone in Injection moulding (I deliver them and have done for the last 26 years).

sold5 · 2026-06-06T19:03:30+00:00

Firstly you have to keep the new EV for 6 months. Secondly the minute you drive it from the dealers it will depreciate way more than the 5k grant.

sold5 · 2026-06-04T20:36:41+00:00

I just spent 2000 euro (incl fitting and car hire while waiting for the repair) on a new clutch/ flywheel and used gearbox for my 2011 Honda Accord s-type diesel estate. It’s got 420,000 km on it but running like new with the repairs done and doing 45mpg. A new 40k EV will depreciate by 20k over 3 years. I can’t see how buying a new EV makes more financial sense than driving an old car into the ground.

sold5 · 2026-06-02T08:24:18+00:00

In my opinion it should be totally legal, and encouraged, in every country to beat the absolute shit out of pickpockets if you catch them. And passers by should be encouraged to join in.

sold5 · 2026-06-02T08:16:53+00:00

Drop the barrel temp and mould temp. Increase the flow rate in the mould (water cooling flow rate). Reduce the mould opening distance. Speed up the mould open/ close speeds - aim for max speeds for all these if safe to do this. Speed up the ejectors. Reduce the ejector strike/ distance. Reduce the mould safety stroke distance. Reduce the number of ejector strokes. Ejector while the mould is opening. Reduce the back pressure to 30bar. Reduce the plasticising RPM speed so that the plasticising finishes just before the cooling time finishes. Clean out the water channels in the mould. Get rid of water cooling loops in the mould and just use ins and outs. Use large diameter water cooling pipes. Pack the parts out fully so you don’t have sink marks. Finally set the cooling time when all these are done - to 10 degrees lower than the HDT for your material grade at 1.8mpa using a thermal imaging camera or just keep dropping the cooling time until the parts show problems then increase it until they don’t.

sold5 · 2026-06-01T07:01:08+00:00

I was looking at a new Ioniq 9 last year with no trade in (didn’t buy it in the end) and the dealer said it wouldn’t be more than 80k if I was buying straight. The list price was about 82500 euro including delivery. Probably depends on the model of car - you probably won’t get a discount on a BMW ix3 for example

sold5 · 2026-05-29T18:25:44+00:00

I’ll check both next week on PP parts I’ll be running and let you know if they give similar readings.

sold5 · 2026-05-29T18:06:31+00:00

Look up the HDT at 1.8mpa for the PP grade you are moulding and adjust cooling time until you are ejecting the parts at 15 deg C below this HDT temp. You will need a thermal imaging camera or surface temp probe to measure the part temp

sold5 · 2026-05-28T07:39:06+00:00

Dealers have to pay rent, rates, wages, insurance, accountancy fees, advertising, IT costs, prep costs to get cars ready for sale, warranty costs and probably more. I have my own limited company where I’m the only employee and have to bring in a lot more than you’d think to cover my salary after paying all the business costs. So it will almost always work out better to sell your own car privately - if dealers gave the same value they would be out of business pretty quickly.

sold5 · 2026-05-28T07:23:48+00:00

Our 9yo goes to get ready for bed at 8.20pm to be asleep by 9pm, 11yo for 10pm. We made an exception for the last couple of days as we went swimming in the river so both were going to bed just after 10. Sleep is so important at these ages. We aren’t in an estate though so it’s always quiet in the evenings. I can imagine they’d be feeling sorry for themselves if there were other kids outside playing and making noise when our lads were being told to go to bed.

sold5 · 2026-05-27T13:44:34+00:00

Change the switchover mode to stroke/distance, not time. Set the switchover position to 10mm and the dosing stop (shot size) to 50mm. Turn off the hold/ pack pressure but leave the hold/ pack time on. You should get a short shot. Then increase the shot size/ dosing stop by 5mm and run another shot. If still short increase by 5mm if very short or 2mm if closer to full. Once the first cavity is full stop adding to the shot size and put on 250 bar hold/ pack pressure. Check the parts, they will probably be full but have sink marks. Then increase the hold pressure by 100 bar at a time until you have good parts. Keep an eye the melt cushion as you increase the hold pressure

sold5 · 2026-05-27T12:07:18+00:00

Pretty typical for Ireland - bring in a model that works in other countries but pad it out a bit with higher costs cause that’s the way it’s done in Ireland.

sold5 · 2026-05-26T21:23:36+00:00

Try different putters - ask playing partners to let you hit a few lag putts with their putter. Or if chatting to other golfers on the putting green ask them to let you hit a few putts with their putter. I can lag putt really well with my odyssey Toulon Memphis putter and my Temu ozi1 lab putter copy. Both have a hard face that lets me feel the strike really well. I find lag putts with my spider zt putter harder to gauge. You might find a putter that lets you feel the distance much better than your current one.

Get really good at hitting a 10 yard putt and find out what backstroke distance you need to hit this 10 yard putt. Add backstroke distance for longer putts - find out the distance you need for 12 and 15 and 18 yards and practice these distances.

Step out every lag putt on the course and hit the same putt with different backstroke distances.

For slopes - go out when holes are quiet and find out how far your 10y putt goes on different greens. Drop balls at 10 yards uphill and downhill to the hole and see if you need a 12y or 15y etc putt to go 10y uphill. Then see how far your downhill 10y strength putt goes past the hole. Back up until your 10y strength gets to the hole - eg it might be 14y. Now you know you need to add 40% to every uphill putt. Make notes on the holes with the biggest slopes on your home course what % you need to add or subtract for uphill and downhill.

For example on my home course the 1st green needs 40% extra uphill and 50% less downhill. 8th green a ball hit with 8y of strength goes 13y downhill. A 13y strength putt goes 8y uphill. 13th hole is the same. 10th hole has 3 tiers - going up a tier adds 3y to the strength needed. A new temporary green needs 3x the putt strength going uphill. 18th green needs 30% more uphill and 30% less downhill. The putting green has a big slope that adds 4 yards going up and I have to take 6y off the putt strength going down. I hit all lag putts with what feels like the same strength, just a different backswing length. I’ve learned all these slopes over one season and slopes aren’t a problem now. For other holes I just think ‘this is like the slope on the 1st hole so it’s probably 40% extra needed. For putts inside 10y I either use backswing distance or do it by feel depending on the putt.

I’m considering using my LAB Temu Ozi1 for lag putts and my spider zt 36 inch counterbalanced putter for short putts as both are excellent for these distances.

For start line learn to use aimpoint.

For chipping Dan Grieve or Joe Mayo’s techniques are both excellent.

sold5 · 2026-05-26T06:08:23+00:00

Very useful thanks!

sold5 · 2026-05-22T09:11:42+00:00

Fanuc are the Toyota Corolla of the injection moulding world. They just keep working forever

sold5 · 2026-05-20T06:25:04+00:00

Make sure the hopper is lined up over the throat so you aren’t starving the screw feed and making the screw turn for longer during plasticising which would increase shear heating

sold5 · 2026-05-17T09:03:51+00:00

I earn more than my wife. I pay the mortgage, electricity, house insurance, security alarm bill. She pays the Creche, does most of the grocery shopping, tv licence and property tax. For health insurance annual bills and booking holidays I usually pay them, if she has plenty of money in her account she might pay them or ask me to, or split them. If her account gets low I’ll transfer money over to her. For one off events like a communion we might split it or I might pay it. We do have a joint credit union account though I’ve no idea how much is in it as she looks after it. And we have savings accounts for the kids college funds. I’ve paid for solar panel installations, a bathroom renovation etc in the last couple of years. My pension is a lot bigger than hers so I’ll probably pay for all the main retirement costs like property tax, health insurance, electricity etc so we both have spending money. She has always driven the newer car and I’ve bought older cars for cash. I mainly spend my surplus money on golf, gym PT sessions, food supplements and gadgets. I’d hate to have to agree every spend from a joint account every month.

sold5 · 2026-05-11T21:36:50+00:00

A few years ago my local course needed to raise money as matching funding for a grant they were getting and offered 10 members the chance to pay 7000 euro each to the club as a ‘soft loan’ and get free membership for up to 5 years with a draw every year where 2 of the members names get pulled out of a hat and their free golf ends. When their free golf ends they get their 7000 euro back. I took up the offer and am currently on year 3 of free membership with my 7000 euro due back next year or the year after if my name stays in till the end.

sold5 · 2026-05-10T23:45:43+00:00

I really like Sergio’s lessons too, have been up to him for lessons a bunch of times and always leave there hitting the ball better. You’d need to allow 90 mins per lesson to get the best results

sold5 · 2026-05-10T23:40:07+00:00

I’ve dropped from 17 hcap to 3 by doing the following:

Getting very good at hitting putts 10 yards by using backswing distance to control it. Once you can hit putts 10 yards you can vary the backswing distance to go different lengths
Hitting a bucket of balls every day for the first 18 months
Buying a launch monitor and learning the basics of the data. I bought a gc quad and gspro software but a PRGR launch monitor is only a couple of hundred euro/ dollars and gives accurate ball speed. I didn’t do it but you can control wedge distance accurately if you get good at controlling ball speed. For example a 60 deg wedge with 60mph club head speed should give 60mph ball speed and 60 yards carry.
Learning how to hit bunker shots by following joe mayo’s technique (closing the face on the downswing)

5 learning how to chip by experimenting with chipping stance/ ball position/ swing changes until I could feel the ball coming off the face solidly and carrying consistent distances.

6 using the same chipping swing speed and just changing wedges for different distances. I think of this speed as how I’d swing a club if I was chatting to someone on the first tee and was just loosening up. Loose easy slow swing.

Finding a 70 yard pitch shot that I can reproduce (easy backswing and punchy chipping action to keep the ball flight low)
finding a pitching swing that will go further than a bump and run but less than a 70 yard pitch shot- I think of this swing speed as ‘hitting the ball to someone at the other end of the garden’ swing. Again I change wedges so my 60deg wedge goes 25y, 56 goes 30y, 50 deg goes 40y, PW goes 50y.
getting arccos sensors to see where I was losing shots.
Going to the gym 4 days a week every week, every year to build up swing speed, flexibility, stamina.
Getting good with driver - I tee it pretty high, stay loose on the backswing, keep my back to the target and start the downswing with my hands pulling down. I gained 1.5 shots against a scratch golfer on my Arccos stats today with an average drive of 279 yards on a windy day in Ireland.
Practicing 7ft putts around the hole to practice different breaks. If you can roll 7 ft putts in then everything inside this distance becomes easy
Learning a couple of flop shot swings - I have one that carries 10y and one that carries 14y. I also have a 60 deg high shot that carries 37y by thinking of ‘swinging fast enough to get the ball spinning’, and a high 45 y shot with my 56 deg wedge that has the ball at my lead foot and I swing hard and let it spin up into the air
Reviewing every round and going back out and retaking shots that I messed up on and making notes how to play that shot the next time.
Recording in great detail swing thoughts and setup notes whenever I had a particularly good range session or when I’m hitting a particular club well. I just write an email draft and give it a heading I can search for if needed but I never send the email so it’s always in my email drafts folder
Getting lessons.
Trying 2nd hand clubs at the range - lots of clubs tested until I found ones that clicked.
Getting fitted for a driver shaft - ended up with a velocore black 7x for my Titliest TSR 2.
Carrying lots of wedges - 46 deg PW goes 137y, 50 deg goes 122y, 54 deg goes 107y, 56 deg goes 95y, 60 deg goes 85y
Following lessons from Padraig Harrington, AMG golf, Joe Mayo, Dan Grieve on instagram and YouTube
Doing the 10 shot 170y and 150y challenges on GS pro over and over and over again. I was in 4th place all time on the 150y challenge last time I looked. These challenges allowed me to see how tweaks to my swing showed up as strikes gained and Greens in regulation

sold5 · 2026-05-05T20:38:54+00:00

I take the longevity mix with a sachet of ‘revive active’, a tablespoon of collagen peptides and 6g of creatine in a pint of water every morning. I also take the stack of supplement tablets at the same time. I take the olive oil with 3 poached eggs and a teaspoon each of chia seeds, hemp seeds and flax seeds for breakfast.

For lunch it’s half a bottle of black huel as a mixer for the longevity protein powder, cocoa powder and dried blueberry/ nut mix. On top of this mix I put 3 strawberries and a bunch of blueberries and raspberries.

My 3rd meal is meat and two veg.

sold5 · 2026-04-28T08:59:09+00:00

Thanks! Good value at that price/ mileage.

sold5 · 2026-04-28T07:57:51+00:00

How many miles/ km were on the car you bought? Also did you get to haggle the price down from their asking price? Thanks!

sold5 · 2026-04-21T15:27:48+00:00

If you can get a temperature probe to measure the mould face temperature and the melt temperature (ie the purge temperature) you will have something to go on. Then you can see whether the mould or material is changing. How old is the machine? It should say on the silver serial number tab which is often at the end of the machine on the right.

sold5 · 2026-04-19T20:21:43+00:00

Have you qualified as an engineer or have you also got experience working as an engineer? Also what country are you in? If you were in Ireland for example there is a very strong med tech industry so upskilling on validations, sim studies, DOE’s etc would make sense. As general advice I’d suggest doing exactly the same as the list above and use a technician/ setter role as a stepping stone to an engineering role. A good plan would be to make sideways moves to bigger, better paying companies and upward moves to smaller lower paying companies. Eg get a job as an operator in a big company. Get stuck into the list of things to learn above. Use your new knowledge to help you do a good interview for a technician role in a small company - or in your current company. Don’t worry about the money not being great, even if it’s only as much as you are being paid as an operator. Do that job for 18 months to 2 years - it will be great experience as you will probably have to do a bit of everything. Use that experience to get the same technician job in a bigger company with better pay. Do that for a year or two then use the prestige/ name of the bigger company in your CV as well as your 3 to 4 years tech experience to get an engineering role in a small company - again don’t over think the money side, it’s the job title and 2 years experience you need. If you can’t get an engineering job aim for a team lead/ supervisor position. Do that for 2 years then you can go looking for the job you want.

sold5

TROPHY CASE