How to become Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in 2024

Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic Set up, operate, or tend heating equipment, such as heat-treating furnaces, flame-hardening machines, induction machines, soaking pits, or vacuum equipment to temper, harden, anneal, or heat treat metal or plastic objects.

Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic is Also Know as

In different settings, Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic is titled as

  • Batch Heat Treat Operator
  • Burner
  • Coating Line Worker
  • Furnace Operator
  • Heat Treat Furnace Operator
  • Heat Treat Operator
  • Heat Treat Technician
  • Heat Treater
  • Scarf and Anneal Operator

Education and Training of Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic is categorized in Job Zone Two: Some Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Heat Treating Equipment 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 Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

These occupations usually require a high school diploma.

Degrees Related to Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

Training Required for Heat Treating Equipment 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 Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in different industries are

What Do Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic do?

  • Read production schedules and work orders to determine processing sequences, furnace temperatures, and heat cycle requirements for objects to be heat-treated.
  • Record times that parts are removed from furnaces to document that objects have attained specified temperatures for specified times.
  • Set up and operate or tend machines, such as furnaces, baths, flame-hardening machines, and electronic induction machines, that harden, anneal, and heat-treat metal.
  • Determine types and temperatures of baths and quenching media needed to attain specified part hardness, toughness, and ductility, using heat-treating charts and knowledge of methods, equipment, and metals.
  • Remove parts from furnaces after specified times, and air dry or cool parts in water, oil brine, or other baths.
  • Position stock in furnaces, using tongs, chain hoists, or pry bars.
  • Instruct new workers in machine operation.
  • Adjust controls to maintain temperatures and heating times, using thermal instruments and charts, dials and gauges of furnaces, and color of stock in furnaces to make setting determinations.
  • Determine flame temperatures, current frequencies, heating cycles, and induction heating coils needed, based on degree of hardness required and properties of stock to be treated.
  • Load parts into containers and place containers on conveyors to be inserted into furnaces, or insert parts into furnaces.
  • Mount workpieces in fixtures, on arbors, or between centers of machines.
  • Set up and operate die-quenching machines to prevent parts from warping.
  • Move controls to light gas burners and to adjust gas and water flow and flame temperature.
  • Reduce heat when processing is complete to allow parts to cool in furnaces or machinery.
  • Signal forklift operators to deposit or extract containers of parts into and from furnaces and quenching rinse tanks.
  • Test parts for hardness, using hardness testing equipment, or by examining and feeling samples.
  • Examine parts to ensure metal shades and colors conform to specifications, using knowledge of metal heat-treating.
  • Repair, replace, and maintain furnace equipment as needed, using hand tools.
  • Start conveyors and open furnace doors to load stock, or signal crane operators to uncover soaking pits and lower ingots into them.
  • Heat billets, bars, plates, rods, and other stock to specified temperatures preparatory to forging, rolling, or processing, using oil, gas, or electrical furnaces.
  • Clean oxides and scales from parts or fittings, using steam sprays or chemical and water baths.
  • Place completed workpieces on conveyors, using cold rods, tongs, or chain hoists, or signal crane operators to transport them to subsequent stations.
  • Stamp heat-treatment identification marks on parts, using hammers and punches.
  • Set and adjust speeds of reels and conveyors for prescribed time cycles to pass parts through continuous furnaces.
  • Mount fixtures and industrial coils on machines, using hand tools.
  • Position parts in plastic bags, and seal bags with irons.

Qualities of Good Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
  • Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
  • Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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).
  • Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
  • Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • 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.
  • Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
  • 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.
  • Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • 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.
  • Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
  • 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.
  • Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
  • Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
  • Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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).
  • Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
  • 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.
  • Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
  • Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
  • Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
  • Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
  • Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

Tools Used by Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

  • Annealing furnaces
  • Atmosphere furnaces
  • Automated salt bath furnaces
  • Batch type hardening furnaces
  • Bridge cranes
  • Carbonitriding equipment
  • Chain hoists
  • Claw hammers
  • Conductivity testers
  • Continuous hardening furnaces
  • Digital thermocouples
  • Electronic hand trucks
  • Exhaust gas collection systems
  • Fiberglass gloves
  • Finger protection gloves
  • Flame-hardening machines
  • Free-standing jib cranes
  • Gas powered generators
  • Heat resistant face masks
  • Induction hardening furnaces
  • Industrial furnace tongs
  • Kevlar gloves
  • Lubricant guns
  • Mechanical vacuum pumps
  • Open end hand wrenches
  • Order pickers
  • Pallet jacks
  • Pallet riders
  • Personal computers
  • Power grinding tools
  • Protective clothing
  • Pry bars
  • Quench presses
  • Sand blasters
  • Shaker hearth furnaces
  • Shock freezers
  • Shot blasters
  • Slotted screwdrivers
  • Soaking pits
  • Steel hardness scopes
  • Steel hardness testers
  • Suction hoods
  • Tempering furnaces
  • Vacuum heat treating furnaces
  • Vacuum leak detectors
  • Wheeled forklifts
  • Winch stackers

Technology Skills required for Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

  • Enterprise resource planning ERP software
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Office software
  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Microsoft Word
  • SAP software