How to become Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in 2024

Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic Set up, operate, or tend milling or planing machines to mill, plane, shape, groove, or profile metal or plastic work pieces.

Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic is Also Know as

In different settings, Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic is titled as

  • CNC Licensed Mill Operator (Computer Numerical Control Licensed Mill Operator)
  • CNC Mill Operator (Computer Numerical Control Mill Operator)
  • CNC Mill Operator (Computerized Numerical Control Mill Operator)
  • CNC Mill Set Up Operator (Computerized Numerical Control Mill Set Up Operator)
  • Machine Operator
  • Machine Set Up Operator
  • Mill Operator
  • Miller
  • Milling Operator
  • Setup Man

Education and Training of Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

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

Experience Required for Milling and Planing 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 Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

These occupations usually require a high school diploma.

Degrees Related to Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

Training Required for Milling and Planing 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 Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in different industries are

What Do Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic do?

  • Remove workpieces from machines, and check to ensure that they conform to specifications, using measuring instruments such as microscopes, gauges, calipers, and micrometers.
  • Observe milling or planing machine operation, and adjust controls to ensure conformance with specified tolerances.
  • Position and secure workpieces on machines, using holding devices, measuring instruments, hand tools, and hoists.
  • Study blueprints, layouts, sketches, or work orders to assess workpiece specifications and to determine tooling instructions, tools and materials needed, and sequences of operations.
  • Move controls to set cutting specifications, to position cutting tools and workpieces in relation to each other, and to start machines.
  • Compute dimensions, tolerances, and angles of workpieces or machines according to specifications and knowledge of metal properties and shop mathematics.
  • Verify alignment of workpieces on machines, using measuring instruments such as rules, gauges, or calipers.
  • Select cutting speeds, feed rates, and depths of cuts, applying knowledge of metal properties and shop mathematics.
  • Move cutters or material manually or by turning handwheels, or engage automatic feeding mechanisms to mill workpieces to specifications.
  • Replace worn tools, using hand tools, and sharpen dull tools, using bench grinders.
  • Select and install cutting tools and other accessories according to specifications, using hand tools or power tools.
  • Record production output.
  • Turn valves or pull levers to start and regulate the flow of coolant or lubricant to work areas.
  • Make templates or cutting tools.
  • Mount attachments and tools, such as pantographs, engravers, or routers, to perform other operations, such as drilling or boring.

Qualities of Good Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

  • 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.
  • Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • 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.
  • Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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).
  • Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
  • Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
  • Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
  • Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
  • 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).
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
  • 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.
  • Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
  • 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).
  • 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.
  • Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
  • Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
  • Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
  • Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
  • Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
  • Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
  • Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
  • Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
  • Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
  • Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
  • Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
  • Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
  • 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 Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

  • Adjustable spanner wrenches
  • Allen wrench sets
  • Automatic tool changers
  • Bore gauges
  • Boring bars
  • Center finders
  • Coaxial indicators
  • Collet chucks
  • Computer numerical control CNC milling machines
  • Coolant chillers
  • Coordinate measuring machines CMM
  • Crescent wrenches
  • Desktop computers
  • Dial calipers
  • Digital bench scales
  • Digital calipers
  • Digital height gauges
  • Drill presses
  • Drop indicators
  • Electronic edge finders
  • End mills
  • Fillet gauges
  • Grease dispensers
  • Hand grinders
  • Height gauges
  • Height setters
  • Horizontal boring mills
  • Horizontal milling machines
  • Industrial bench grinders
  • Inside digital ID micrometers
  • Lapping tools
  • Layout compasses
  • Machine deburring tools
  • Mechanical comparators
  • Mechanical edge finders
  • Metal cutters
  • Metal planers
  • Metal shears
  • Multipurpose screwdrivers
  • Outside digital OD micrometers
  • Overhead cranes
  • Pin gauge sets
  • Polishing tools
  • Power hoists
  • Precision milling vises
  • Precision rules
  • Protective safety glasses
  • Setting jigs
  • Soft jaws
  • Tool probes
  • Turret lathes
  • Vernier calipers
  • Vertical machining centers VMC
  • Vertical milling machines
  • Wheeled forklifts
  • Wire cleaning brushes

Technology Skills required for Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

  • Autodesk AutoCAD
  • EditCNC
  • Extensible markup language XML
  • G-code
  • Kentech machine shop software
  • M-code
  • Mastercam computer-aided design and manufacturing software
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Office software
  • Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Microsoft Word
  • Siemens Solid Edge
  • SmartCAMcnc SmartCAM
  • SWIVEL Software
  • Vero Software ALPHACAM
  • Vero Software Edgecam