Everything you own was affected by a machinist at some point. From Anchors to Zylophones a machinist was instrumental in it's original creation and production.

Basically a person that is considered a machinist can take a set of plans and create whatever needs to be made from metal, plastics, ceramics, composits and even wood. Machinists may work within several disciplines from maintenance, production, assembly to Tool and Die work.

A large number are trained in CNC machining that involves the use of Computer Aided Designs and Computer Numerical Control to produce parts to high tolerances and very consistently. Work cells are strategically located into a fast moving production environment. One machinist may operate 3 or more machines simultaneously in a CNC environment. Monitoring the accuracy of the processes and performance of the machines themselves.

CNC controlled machines can do every imaginable task from cutting, welding, stamping, forming, bending, roll forming to simple tasks such as part handling.

CNC Lasers, press brakes, turret punches, lathes, machining centers, grinders, EDM macines all enable highly precise contouring and shaping of many exotic materials and alloys.

CNC robotics programming is another related field needing new technicians daily to program, maintain and supervise their exacting and tireless processes.

All machinery parts are crafted by machinists and then assembled by mechanics. Many thousands of hours are involved in becoming a master at any trade and Machinists are no different. Master machinists are capable of setting up and operating any machine shop tool and perform operations faithfully and safely with a high degree of accuracy and repeatability.

Journeyman skills are used to build experience to becoming a master machinist. Union organized shops use the journeyman system to obtain credentials for union work.

So the next time you look at someting new, thank a machinist for his influence on your newest acquisition. His dedication to his trade and a quest for accurate affordable parts makes our lives easier.

From working with the oldest conventional machines to the newest technologically advanced digital bohemoths, true craftsmanship and skills show in the quality and quantity of the products produced.

A recent search of the jobs for machinists on Google and Yahoo revealed thousands of potential jobs all over the country. Even Craigslist had hundreds of jobs for machinists in some areas.

One of the popular job boards had machinist jobs all over the world. Work for machinists can be found in the smallest towns too. There are a lot of one man shops around, most are looking for new additions to their workforce. Manufactureres are always searching for qualified applicants to fill many types of positions requiring machinist skills.

Entry level jobs can be had for students in Machine Trades, that will expose them to a lot of the skills required to perform adequately in a manufacturing environment. Machine operators are usually not machinists but are required to possess good math skills and work with precision measuring devices. Many operators go through an indoctrination period to learn machine operation, shop safety and minor programming skills.

Basically an operator monitors the machine performance and accuracy and will replace tools, change speeds, or replenish raw materials for the machining centers.

Machinists are usally required for the complex tooling changes some equipment entails. Offsets and minor programming changes are sometimes required on the shop floor. Most programs are created in the engineering department and loaded remotely via DNC or ethernet connects to the individual machines.

There are lots of jobs for machinists that only make tools for other machinists. Tool makers are machinists that focus their talents on hand and precision tools for their bretheren. Sharpening tools is another exacting profession to pursue also. Tools such as end mills, reamers, drills, taps, dies, etc. all get dulled by their intended usage.

These can be resharpened easily with proper training and equipment operation. A drill bit can be reused thousands of times if kept properly sharpened. CNC sharpening equipment can bring new life to dull endmills in a few seconds. CNC grinders are very versatile and can repeat the grinding process that manufactrers use, easily resharpening a dull edge.

Computer subprograms built into the machines can reduce set up times considerably. Utilizing sensing probes to configure the proper helix angles and the appropriate angles for lands and shoulders of the cutting edge geometry. Many profiling end mills were historically difficult to resharpen, but CNC Tool Grinding can make this difficult setup a breexe.

CADCAM systems are the norm today for most companies. Lean manufacturing was birthed by the combining of Computer Aided Design with Computer Aided Manufacturing.

Prototypes can now be designed and built using Stereo Lithography to build complex 3D models from plastic resins. Working muck like a pen plotter from the forgone blueprint plotting days, it fuses layers of powdered plastic with a low wattage laser. Each layer is built upon the next until the part is formed.

This same data is used to program the machines to construct the various pieces comprising the assembly. Rapid prototyping allowed BMW to build the first X5 production prototype with as little as 5 vehicles before the design was frozen and production started.

CAD and CAM Sotware....

AutoCAD

Catia

MasterCAM

SurfCAM

Pro/Engineer

MasterCAD

TurboCAD

The list is very long for these Software vendors...

Technical Education in Machinist trades today is going to involve CAD systems and programming skills. Most of the machine coding utilizes G Codes. These codes relay information during the program run to move the machine components, start stop spindles, load tooling, load work pallets, wash down surfaces, air blow, coolant flow, clamping and unclamping as well as controlling the cut path and feeds for the respective operations.

Skills in memory are advantageous to learning each machines idiosyncracies. Lasers for example, use codes to set pulse, frequency and power levels as well as gases mixed within the cutting head, and repositioning the materials within the cutting range of the equipment.

Lathes and mills require speeds and feeds for both the spindle and the lathe carriage, in the case of milling machines the table.

Modern CNC lathes today use extra attachements to perform second operations in the same setup. An example would be a cross drilling operation while the part is still in the lathe chuck. Accuracy and time are optimized in this simple "second" operation.

Turret punches use multistation tools to punch holes slots and shapes fast and accurately. Some turret punches employ tapping heads to tap threaded holes in sheet metal shapes while punching other operations in the same setup. All these operations can be programmed on a computer but can be hand punched into the controller for the machine as well.

It's very rewarding to use computers to design parts, transfer the data to a machine and walk away with a perfect part the first time. Fun Stuff!