Project Dalek

Motor Vehicle lecturer, Michael Poil, has come up with an ingenious marketing tool to showcase the many skills students can learn here at Sussex Downs College – he built a Dalek.

The shiny black motorised robot was built with trade skills used in fields such as engineering, carpentry and motor vehicle maintenance. The makings of the Dalek began with a wood skeleton, then into a mould to create a fibre glass body. The Dalek has now become quite a complex project. It has the requisite plunger arms, is encased in thermal plastic and it is soon to become remote control. Hopefully it has not been programmed to exterminate mankind, but it looks like it could.

“I’m not a massive Dr Who fan, but I did watch it as a kid. This project started off as small showcase piece, but it is now a great advertising tool. From its makeup, it shows students how you spray cars, how to make mouldings, what electronic bits do. It’s been good fun,” Poil said.

Follow progress at www.facebook.com/DALEKproject