What's a machinist?

[Brent Beelby]

My wife works at an employment agency. She has to fill a position for a machinist. She asked me if I knew what one was, I told her it was a woodworker that uses metal instead of wood. I really don't know. Could someone shed some light on it for me?
Thanks alot
Brent

[Dick Parr]

That is a big question? A true machinist can run any number of different types of machines and they use to be able to maintain them. Today I think there are very few true machinists left. :rolleyes: Where I worked there were about 200 employees that were called machinists, but I think there were only about a dozen or so that were (old timers). The rest were machine operators. A machinist can take a blue print/drawing and plan and make a part on a given machine. A machine operator takes a pre-programmed set of instructions that someone else makes (programmer) and puts them into a machine, gets the tools/cutters that the programmer has specified and loads in the machine and then pushes a button and watches the part be made by the machine.

Maybe that is a little simplified, but it's close.

[Glenn Clabo]

Brent,

You are, in a general sense, right. A long...long time ago...in a land far away (well Lynn Mass anyway) I was part of the GE all around machinist apprentice program. Before that, I was an apprentice carpenter/cabinet maker.

In both cases taking a plan or idea and building it from some raw piece of material was the idea. You needed to be able to read plans…know some math…have some concept of tools/machines use/repair…and how the material you were working responded. Things have changed so much from those days. Nowadays computers and power tools take much of the old “skill” requirement out of the picture. An old school skilled machinist or cabinet maker is worth his/her weight in gold...or should that be oil now? <O:p></O:p>

IMHO major difference besides the material used is precision. It’s always interesting to watch a machinist/woodworker measuring wood to +/- .001.;) <O:p></O:p>

[Bruce Page]

I came across this many years ago, the old machinists around here will probably enjoy it!



“Why I Became A Machinist”

..



Everybody needs to find a job that fits them. When I was a kid I looked at a lot of
different jobs and here is what I found out about Machinists.

“When machinists go hunting they usually get bigger deer than most folks. When
they go fishing they generally catch so many fish, that their arms get tired from
reeling them in.

Machinists tend to be better looking than the average person. This means they
have better social lives than almost anybody else. Some folks from a university
did a study and found that machinists get lucky about 43 times as often as most
folks. At least that is what I heard.

Machinists almost always have better looking spouses, smarter kids, greener
lawns, redder roses, and generally they seem to have fewer weeds in the
garden. Their cars always seem to run a little better and use less gas. Things
generally seem to work better for a machinist than they do for the rest of the
world.

Machinists do things that no one else can do. They live and excel in a world
where things too small to see make a big difference. They possess special skills
and a unique knowledge.

Machinists do real work in a world full of made up stuff. Machinists make real
things like cars and tools and a better America.

Machinists tend to be more honest, better friends, and slightly better adjusted
than the world in general. That comes from making a career in a professional
world of exact specifications and real deadlines. It seems to show in their
character.

Machinists just generally seem to be clearly superior human beings, which is why
I became a machinist. That and all the other good jobs were taken.”

By Thomas Walz

[Frank Pellow]

Bruce, I love your "Why I became a Machinist" contribution. I guess that I should have read it before I became a computer programmer.

[Ed Falis]

I came across this many years ago, the old-fart machinists around here will probably enjoy it!


Sounds exactly like my late uncle George, the machinist.

Thanks, Bruce.

- Ed

[Bruce Page]

Sounds exactly like my late uncle George, the machinist.

Thanks, Bruce.

- EdEd, that fits most machinists - at least in our own minds anyway. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: Most machinists including myself can be pretty arrogant at times. I have never met a top-flight machinist that was also timid.

[Ed Falis]

Ed, that fits most machinists - at least in our own minds anyway. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: Most machinists including myself can be pretty arrogant at times. I have never met a top-flight machinist that was also timid.

Hmn, my son is thinking about getting into it. Any tips for him? PM is ok.

- Ed

[Bobby Hatfield]

Glenn I know you wasn't talking about me.

[Glenn Clabo]

Nice vise there Mr. Hatfield.

[Bruce Page]

Glenn I know you wasn't talking about me.
Bobby, it could be worse - you could be using a "tenth" mic! :p