Hola from Spain

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spiritburner

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7 Jan 2024
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Location
Spain
Well Barcelona, actually, I'm a newly retired engineer who likes to play with metal and wood, but also lasers , 3-D printers and CNC machines in general. I've started building them to order over here and supplying them to the local market and anything from a diode to a full-blown 4 axis CNC machine or CNC Plasma cutter for working on non ferrous metals and hardwoods.

I've lived over here for 24 years with my family and have to admit having just spent two weeks in Worcester with my son and his family, I am struggling to find a good reason to permanently come back to the UK to live. It rained when we landed , it rained when we took off and for the two weeks in between those two days, it rained every single day and I don't think we saw the Sun once. I seem to remember, that was why I left back in 99.

We have a nice life here and if anybody's thinking of moving feel free to contact me, I can give you some advice. Where we are we have 320 days of sun and pure blue skies every year. Although now summers are getting a lot hotter, last year we recorded 43ºc 100kms north of us.

We live just south of Barcelona in a small and very old fishing village called Sitges,itsnowvery popular and has featured on several uk TV showsI understand and I have to admit we are pretty lucky to be here, however I would say the reason we have lasted this long is because we fully integrated into Spanish society, sadly many people who come from the UK and other countries to live in Spain prefer to live generally in the Ex-Pat areas mainly down in the south and end up living in a "Little Britain" type scenario and most can't even speak more than a few words of Spanish after many years of living here.

To earn a living and survive here you have to speak the language and you have to integrate and be part of the community, once you do that all the barriers come down and you'll find living here is an incredible experience.

My forte is working mainly with metals as I am an engineer but now that I have retired I want to spend a lot more time working with wood and learning hopefully from people on here ,while we do have Spanish workshop type forums ( mainly on Telegram) of which I am a member of a couple the trouble here is that most people dont really have hobbies here, so finding someone with a full workshop or similar interests can be quite difficult.

Thats is for now and I hope to meet you all so to speak ! 😄

Neil Scott

Video is Playa San Sebastain Sitges.

 
Welcome to the forums, have a look at the CNC sub section as they all are involved with lasers and such.

I've lived over here for 24 years with my family and have to admit having just spent two weeks in Worcester with my son and his family, I am struggling to find a good reason to permanently come back to the UK to live.
When you escape from prison you do not then spend time thinking about how to get back in, the Uk is going no where and so many have left like yourself as they can see a better life elsewhere.
 
Welcome to the forums, have a look at the CNC sub section as they all are involved with lasers and such.


When you escape from prison you do not then spend time thinking about how to get back in, the Uk is going no where and so many have left like yourself as they can see a better life elsewhere.
I never thought of it like that I have to admit ,thanks for the fun welcome Roy. 😄 I saw that there some additional sub forums as part of the overall group so I will be taking a good look at those as well. I work with Diodes, C02 and Fibre as well. a few fingers in too many pies my wife tells me!!! Thanks again
 
Hi and welcome , woodwork and a little metal work no problems - 3 d printing laser cutters I’ve not a clue but its all good stuff so why not ..🍻🍻
Thanks Bingy Man , no worries on the lasers and stuff,, been doing them a while now but woodwork was never my forte as you will find out, I'm going to be posting about a saw table soon. I need two final machines for my finished workshop one is a reasonable small saw table like DeWalt site saw or similar "quality" and the second a small planer, I think our American cousins call them a "jointer"? I already have a good thicknesser but it was free and didn't come with the planer on top.
I know I can convert a old electric plane into a small one but would prefer something a little larger around6or 8inches width with cast iron throat/bed on if possible.

Hope to catch you around and thanks for the Hi. 🍻🍻
 
Thanks Bingy Man , no worries on the lasers and stuff,, been doing them a while now but woodwork was never my forte as you will find out, I'm going to be posting about a saw table soon. I need two final machines for my finished workshop one is a reasonable small saw table like DeWalt site saw or similar "quality" and the second a small planer, I think our American cousins call them a "jointer"? I already have a good thicknesser but it was free and didn't come with the planer on top.
I know I can convert a old electric plane into a small one but would prefer something a little larger around6or 8inches width with cast iron throat/bed on if possible.

Hope to catch you around and thanks for the Hi. 🍻🍻
No probs , I only have a small workshop so space is a premium hence I have a similar dewalt to what you are looking at and a small portable planer .. as long as they get the job done - I’ll look forward to your posts 😊😊
 
Welcome to the nuthouse, glad to have a "sunnier" input te CNC,laser cutters and ancillary equipment.
I too am a "departee" from UK, I left the forces in 95 and saw them there was little future in hanging around.
I was in Germany and Holland for 28 years, and now moved to eastern France, near Neufchâteau.
Best regards, Karl
 
Welcome to the nuthouse, glad to have a "sunnier" input te CNC,laser cutters and ancillary equipment.
I too am a "departee" from UK, I left the forces in 95 and saw them there was little future in hanging around.
I was in Germany and Holland for 28 years, and now moved to eastern France, near Neufchâteau.
Best regards, Karl
thanks Karl good to meet you , always happy to help out. regards. Neil
 
Welcome to the forums Neil.
Just an amusing side issue, here. I was interested in the place where you live, so I thought I'd have a "walk round" on Google maps. Go to the street where Carrefour Market is (it doesn't seem to have a name) and see if you can spot the man and woman at the northern corner of Carrefour. Same to you mate!
 
Welcome Neil - great forum here! I love rainy days, as I don't feel so guilty about being in the workshop. The sun shines a lot here in Norfolk and I love to be outside. Your area does look lovely though.
 
When you escape from prison you do not then spend time thinking about how to get back in, the Uk is going no where and so many have left like yourself as they can see a better life elsewhere.
We had a house in the South of France for twelve years, during lock down when we could not get there we realised that our place in the UK was just as nice if not better (France property took three days to cut the grass) we have sold the french property and have no regrets, we do not regard the UK as a prison, but do wonder about the efficiency of the utilities, road closures around our area are becoming a joke, six day closure of our lane, when the water meter repair took just one hour and was in a verge that is 6M wide.
 
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