How to become Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in 2024

Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic Set up, operate, or tend machines to extrude or draw thermoplastic or metal materials into tubes, rods, hoses, wire, bars, or structural shapes.

Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic is Also Know as

In different settings, Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic is titled as

  • Equipment Technician
  • Extruder Operator
  • Extrusion Operator
  • Extrusion Press Operator
  • Machine Operator
  • Metal Inspector
  • Setup Operator
  • Wire Mill Operator
  • Wire Mill Rover

Education and Training of Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic is categorized in Job Zone Two: Some Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

Some previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is usually needed. For example, a teller would benefit from experience working directly with the public.

Education Required for Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

These occupations usually require a high school diploma.

Degrees Related to Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

Training Required for Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

Employees in these occupations need anywhere from a few months to one year of working with experienced employees. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in different industries are

What Do Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic do?

  • Measure and examine extruded products to locate defects and to check for conformance to specifications, adjusting controls as necessary to alter products.
  • Determine setup procedures and select machine dies and parts, according to specifications.
  • Install dies, machine screws, and sizing rings on machines that extrude thermoplastic or metal materials.
  • Change dies on extruding machines, according to production line changes.
  • Start machines and set controls to regulate vacuum, air pressure, sizing rings, and temperature, and to synchronize speed of extrusion.
  • Replace worn dies when products vary from specifications.
  • Reel extruded products into rolls of specified lengths and weights.
  • Troubleshoot, maintain, and make minor repairs to equipment.
  • Clean work areas.
  • Adjust controls to draw or press metal into specified shapes and diameters.
  • Operate shearing mechanisms to cut rods to specified lengths.
  • Select nozzles, spacers, and wire guides, according to diameters and lengths of rods.
  • Weigh and mix pelletized, granular, or powdered thermoplastic materials and coloring pigments.
  • Load machine hoppers with mixed materials, using augers, or stuff rolls of plastic dough into machine cylinders.
  • Test physical properties of products with testing devices such as acid-bath testers, burst testers, and impact testers.
  • Maintain an inventory of materials.

Qualities of Good Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

  • Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
  • Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
  • Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
  • Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
  • Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
  • Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
  • Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
  • Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
  • Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
  • Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
  • Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
  • Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
  • Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
  • Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
  • Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
  • Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
  • Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
  • Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
  • Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
  • Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
  • Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
  • Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
  • Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
  • Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
  • Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
  • Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
  • Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
  • Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
  • Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
  • Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
  • Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
  • Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
  • Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
  • Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
  • Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
  • Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
  • Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
  • Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

Tools Used by Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

  • Air cooling systems
  • Automatic vacuum pumps
  • Batch dryers
  • Billet heating furnaces
  • Billet loaders
  • Blown film extruders
  • Braiders
  • Burst testers
  • Conveyor augers
  • Desktop computers
  • Die changers
  • Die holders
  • Die shuffles
  • Die slides
  • Digital calipers
  • Digital micrometers
  • Dummy blocks
  • Dye water tank farm systems
  • Electrical panel boards
  • Extrusion press conveyors
  • Extrusion pullers
  • Horizontal cooling tanks
  • Hot log shears
  • Industrial floor scales
  • Injection molding machines
  • Jacket extruder
  • Lubrication systems
  • Measuring tapes
  • Metal bending mandrels
  • Metal shearing machines
  • Nip rolls
  • Packaging hoppers
  • Paddle blenders
  • Pellet classifiers
  • Pin gauge sets
  • Plastic film extrusion dies
  • Plastic profile extrusion dies
  • Plastic sheet extrusion dies
  • Plate conveyors
  • Production counters
  • Ribbon blenders
  • Ring gauges
  • Roller conveyors
  • Sheet extruders
  • Sheet stackers
  • Sigma blade mixers
  • Single screw extruders
  • Slat conveyors
  • Snap gauges
  • Steam controls
  • Tubing extruders
  • Twin screw extruders
  • Two-roll mills
  • Variable impact testers
  • Wheeled forklifts
  • Wire drawing machines

Technology Skills required for Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

  • Enterprise application integration EAI software
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Office software
  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Microsoft Word
  • Operational databases
  • SAP software