How to become a Machinist 2024

Machinist Set up and operate a variety of machine tools to produce precision parts and instruments out of metal. Includes precision instrument makers who fabricate, modify, or repair mechanical instruments. May also fabricate and modify parts to make or repair machine tools or maintain industrial machines, applying knowledge of mechanics, mathematics, metal properties, layout, and machining procedures.

Machinist is Also Know as

In different settings, Machinist is titled as

CNC Machinist (Computer Numeric Controlled Machinist)
CNC Machinist (Computer Numerically Controlled Machinist)
Gear Machinist
Machine Repair Person
Machinist
Maintenance Machinist
Manual Lathe Machinist
Production Machinist
Tool Room Machinist

Education and Training of Machinist

Machinist is categorized in Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Machinist

Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.

Education Required for Machinist

Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Degrees Related to Machinist

Training Required for Machinist

Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Machinist in different industries are

What Do Machinist do?

Machine parts to specifications, using machine tools, such as lathes, milling machines, shapers, or grinders.
Measure, examine, or test completed units to check for defects and ensure conformance to specifications, using precision instruments, such as micrometers.
Align and secure holding fixtures, cutting tools, attachments, accessories, or materials onto machines.
Monitor the feed and speed of machines during the machining process.
Lay out, measure, and mark metal stock to display placement of cuts.
Check work pieces to ensure that they are properly lubricated or cooled.
Operate equipment to verify operational efficiency.
Install repaired parts into equipment or install new equipment.
Advise clients about the materials being used for finished products.
Program computers or electronic instruments, such as numerically controlled machine tools.
Confer with engineering, supervisory, or manufacturing personnel to exchange technical information.
Dismantle machines or equipment, using hand tools or power tools to examine parts for defects and replace defective parts where needed.
Establish work procedures for fabricating new structural products, using a variety of metalworking machines.
Support metalworking projects from planning and fabrication through assembly, inspection, and testing, using knowledge of machine functions, metal properties, and mathematics.
Confer with numerical control programmers to check and ensure that new programs or machinery will function properly and that output will meet specifications.
Fit and assemble parts to make or repair machine tools.
Design fixtures, tooling, or experimental parts to meet special engineering needs.
Prepare working sketches for the illustration of product appearance.
Install experimental parts or assemblies, such as hydraulic systems, electrical wiring, lubricants, or batteries into machines or mechanisms.
Set up or operate metalworking, brazing, heat-treating, welding, or cutting equipment.
Test experimental models under simulated operating conditions, for purposes such as development, standardization, or feasibility of design.
Dispose of scrap or waste material in accordance with company policies and environmental regulations.
Separate scrap waste and related materials for reuse, recycling, or disposal.
Calculate dimensions or tolerances, using instruments, such as micrometers or vernier calipers.
Set up, adjust, or operate basic or specialized machine tools used to perform precision machining operations.
Maintain machine tools in proper operational condition.
Study sample parts, blueprints, drawings, or engineering information to determine methods or sequences of operations needed to fabricate products.
Diagnose machine tool malfunctions to determine need for adjustments or repairs.
Evaluate machining procedures and recommend changes or modifications for improved efficiency or adaptability.

Qualities of Good Machinist

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.
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.
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.
Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
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.
Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
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.
Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
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.
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).
Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
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.
Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
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).
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.
Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
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.
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.
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).
Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
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.
Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.

Tools Used by Machinist

3-axis computerized numerical control CNC machines
Adjustable wrenches
Angle plates
Angled feeler gauges
Anvils
Arbor presses
Aviation snips
Ball peen hammers
Bandsaws
Beverly shears
Binocular light compound microscopes
Boring bars
Boring tools
Brake presses
Brass hammers
Brazing equipment
Breaker lathes
Broachers
Buffers
Calipers
Center drills
Centrifugal spin casters
Chamfer tools
Channel lock pliers
Chippers
Chucks
Cold chisels
Cold saws
Combination drills
Combination pliers
Combination wrenches
Composition hammers
Computerized numerical control CNC machining centers
Computerized numerical control CNC turning lathes
Coordinate measuring machines CMM
Crankshaft grinders
Cutoff saws
Cylinder honers
Cylindrical grinders
Deburring tools
Desktop computers
Dial calipers
Dial indicators
Drum lathes
Edge finders
Engine lathes
Feeler gauges
Flat files
Flywheel lathes
Forklifts
Full face shields
Gauges
Grinders
Grinding dogs
Grinding wheel arbors
Hacksaws
Half-round files
Hand clamps
Hand saws
Handheld welders
Heat-treating equipment
Height gauges
Hermaphrodite calipers
Hex keys
Hex wrenches
Horizontal boring bars
Horizontal lathes
Horizontal mills
Hydraulic presses
Inside micrometers
Inside spring calipers
Jointers
Knee mills
Ladders
Laser printers
Lathes
Machine shop rigging equipment
Machinists' hammers
Machinists' squares
Magnetic retrievers
Marking blocks
Metal cutting taps
Metal inert gas MIG welders
Metal shears
Metal spray equipment
Micrometers
Milling angle form cutters
Milling machines
Milling vises
Multi-axis computerized numerical control CNC machines
Needlenose pliers
Outside micrometers
Outside spring calipers
Oxyacetylene welding equipment
Parallel blocks
Personal computers
Personal digital assistants PDA
Phillips head screwdrivers
Pillar drill machines
Pipe threaders
Pipe wrenches
Planer gauges
Planers
Plasma welders
Platforms
Portable welding equipment
Power drills
Power hacksaws
Power sanders
Prick punches
Pry bars
Punches
Putty knives
Radial drill presses
Radial drills
Radius gauges
Ratchet sets
Reamers
Resurfacing machines
Ring gauges
Rubber mallets
Sandblasters
Screw pitch gauges
Screwdrivers
Scribers
Sensitive drill presses
Shapers
Sharpening equipment
Shears
Shielded arc welding tools
Shims
Side cutting pliers
Sine bars
Single-cut mill saw files
Sledgehammers
Socket wrench sets
Soldering equipment
Spindle blade screwdrivers
Spirit levels
Square chisels
Staging equipment
Steel rules
Steel wedges
Surface gauges
Surface grinding machines
Swaging tools
Telescoping gauges
Thread gauges
Threading machines
Tongs
Torches
Tube benders
Tungsten inert gas TIG welding equipment
Turning lathes
Turret lathes
Undercut tools
Utility knives
V blocks
Valve grinding machines
Vernier bevel protractors
Vernier calipers
Vernier gear tooth calipers
Vernier height gauges
Vertical milling machines
Vertical turret lathes VTL
Wedges
Welding lenses
Welding shields
Workshop cranes

Technology Skills required for Machinist

3D Printing software
Armchair Machinist software
Autodesk AutoCAD
Autodesk Fusion 360
Autodesk HSMWorks
CNC Consulting Machinists' Calculator
CNC Mastercam
Computer aided design CAD software
Computer aided manufacturing CAM software
Dassault Systemes CATIA
Dassault Systemes SolidWorks
EditCNC
ERP software
G-code
GRZ Software MeshCAM
Hexagon Metrology PC-DMIS
IMSI TurboCAD
JETCAM
JobBOSS
Kentech Kipware Studio
Kentech Kipware Trig Kalculator
Mastercam computer-aided design and manufacturing software
Mazak Mazatrol SMART CNC
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Office software
Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft Word
OneCNC CAD/CAM
OnShape
PTC Creo Parametric
SAP software
Siemens NX
SolidCAM CAM software
Vero Software SURFCAM

US Universities

How to become Machinist in 2024