Although is the US I believe Tom Lipton of Oxtools on YouTube does it for a living.

H

Universities and other research establishments will also commission manufacturers of similar commercial equipment to make “specials” That was certainly the case when I worked in that industry. We didn’t make much, if any profit on them. However they led to enough follow-on work or even new product lines to be worthwhile.

High vacuum rigs like the one shown and optical set-ups are often made from standard off-the shelf parts. The vacuum ones bolt together or use clamped flanges with seals.  Very nice but also expensive.
The slotted aluminium extrusion is also popular for custom machines. It’s sometimes called a machine building system. Meccano for grown-ups 🙂

They often end up in disposal sales and are a great source for parts IF you have tha means to collect them and the space to take them apart.

Robert.

Robert.

I have 3 friends who did such work, one of who fuelled my interest in experimental work.  I don’t make models or build kits!

Two spent their careers in Universities, the third became a school technician in a Technical Academy after BT made him redundant.  Dead now poor chap.

The universities had well-equipped workshops, full access to materials of all sorts, and contacts with academic, government and industry R&D worldwide.  Reasonable budgets, and often funded by industry to develop innovations.  The work varied from making simple parts up to complicated assemblies, and anything seriously difficult could be outsourced.  Occasionally worked with components, materials and techniques not available outside an R&D establishment.   Outside the workshop, the university had loads of other equipment: electron microscope?  No problem!   Sulphuric Acid by the ton, liquid Helium, full on Technical library, mathematicians, chemical, electronic, electrical, mechanical and other engineers – not difficult.   Not all rainbows and lollipops though – plenty of petty squabbles, egos, and theoreticians unwilling to accept experimental results contrary to their ideas.  Obviously the idiots who built the experiment must be wrong, not the bloke who designed it, or came up with a duff idea!

School technician’s experience was mixed.  Problem was the Head wasn’t interested in technology and progressively diverted time,  funds and talent away from it.  A Technical Academy in name only, the problem being that politicians rarely bother to check that the systems they are responsible for deliver as intended.  Ofsted seem only to check exams are being passed, not caring if a naughty Technical Academy churned out Historians rather than Mathematicians.   He expected lots of work supporting the kids, actually most days he was left to potter happily in a well equipped workshop.  Rarely used the metal-working tools because electronics and 3D-printing kept him amused until he retired.  To his knowledge, the Denford CNC lathe had only been fired up once to prove it worked after installation…

Dave

around Cambridge lots of small specialised companies not only working for the University but also for all the medical and research companies in the area.
When I worked for Schlumberger Cambridge research and we used this company a  lot. That drilling machine was ours 🙂
https://huxleybertram.com/portfolio-item/test-rig-machine/

mike

Before joining the airforce I worked for a university pharmacology department as one of three lab techs. We had a small workshop in the department with a Unimat SL with many accessories plus other hand tools which we used to make small experimental devices, mostly in perspex and/or aluminum. I also made some electronic monitoring devices for the experiments, usually from scribbled sketches from one of the 3 PhDs I worked for. There was a large very well equipped machine shop in the basement that made any large or complex items, only visited it once. Was interesting work.
When I left I was told by the department head, Dr. Ling, that if the airforce didn’t work out my job was waiting for me, so I must have done something right.
I went back about a year later after I got my wings and learned that Dr. Ling had died of a brain tumor a few months earlier, he was only in his late 40s, early 50s.
John

University auction sites, if you can find them are often gold mines of obscure equipment that is let go to make room for new kit. Materials are also sold for bargin prices.

Most of the crazy custom experimental apparatus like that are built by Ph.D. students under the supervision of their advisors (their professors).

Most higher-tier Universities do have facilities such as a machine shop, where professionals can make things that students can’t, or which would be dangerous for a student to do (there have been some tragic – including fatal – accidents when students have access to powerful equipment). However, professionals usually costs money that comes out of research budgets, and it’s avoided when possible, since grad students are cheaper. And also, those shops normally can’t build an entire apparatus like that anyway.

National laboratories, on the other hand, employ higher-skilled professionals, and have better facilities that can do much more, and which grad students normally participate in too.

Huge experiments like at the LHC, where hundreds or thousands of things like superconducting magnets are needed, also employ large consulting and construction companies. But the researchers are usually control freaks that want to be in charge of everything anyway.

A job as a technician or a machinist, etc., at a national laboratory or at an R1 university is usually a great position to be in. Sane working conditions, interesting projects, and all that.