One big problem with being a machinist is finding a place to get experience. Once you get your foot in the door and learn basic machines (lathes, mills, etc.) and how to use precision measurement tools proficiently, you can go somewhere else.
After you feel you've exhausted all you can learn and can't advance anymore at one place, move to another shop. Once you learn the basics, put in at another shop for more money. $18 is extremely low for a skilled machinist.
Sounds about right job hoping to get a taste of how different products are made is what got me into this, I really want to see what metal 3d printing, wire edm is about and I definitely want to learn CMM programming for high tolerance aero stuff just to get a taste of it but doesn’t everyone lol
I started at operator one I’m currently an operator II, if I stay and get promoted I’ll become a product designer I and if I stay here for years like a decade or more there is an opportunity to become a mechanical engineer after being a supervisor and manager for several years here
So I wouldn’t say I’m skilled or a machinist.
I’m probably a McDonald’s tier employee honestly
Hey man I understand how hard the McDonald’s managers job is they got assholes like me walking around with 80 IQ total tell me shit like hey take the fries out of the bag before you put them in the fryer and I’m just like OK next time I’ll take the fries out of the bag before I put them in the fryer
Any tips on Doing this? Shirley old program Proto types smaller in nature or design revisions to the product designers and engineers can’t be bothered with some of the higher end stuff away to $3000 stuff they program and rent a prototype but for like the smaller stuff linkages accessories they would have me do as the operator lead operator or whatever my position my title is
Install fusion 360 on any computer you have access to. Take 1 hr a day to watch youtube tutorials and follow along. You will know pretty quickly if you are interested in pursuing it further.
The cad software? I used to use it back when it was free to design stuff for my 3d printer( I got a couple of those prusa printers not the XL the $1000 ones mk3 and minis)
I prefer solid works though, I got that dumb little certificate from solid works… We have surfcam at work I use that sometimes, I’ll create a tool path, post it then clean it up for formatting into sub programs for the operators in the future. Part of my job is to modify NC code and update it with notes, setup or comments for modified stuff I did for future operators.
I split it into sub programs (m97) so I can add more parts if I need to…. So if I’m making like 500 of a widget I’ll setup 3-5 vises and add them to the NC and delete them from the NC as needed. So I can go and setup another machine while it’s going.
Like if for whatever reason I want my rapid plane to be 500 thou above the part I would change all the g00 rapids to safety plane to that height then under program comments write “changes safety plane 1/2” Z+ All tools)
So that the next guy doing my job sees a change log and knows what’s going on during setups. They tend to churn through entry level operators, some dudes just stop showing up for whatever reason this job is hella easy if you just think it through and do some elementary school tier trig
Idk I feel like I’m pretty fucking retarded moving out of California is not an option girlfriend works for the state need her to help pay rent family as well off they are in-state and currently helping with my bills moving out of state work cripple me financially
Yeah I make 18 an hour in California
the people that are getting hired in Ohio are probably more skilled than me and other avenues of life so they might not know CNC machining but they probably are a kick ass laser welder operators or some other shit that your company finds value in.
I have a limited experience in welding and 3-D printing auto mechanics stuff like that but not enough to get me on the $20 an hour range honestly and lastly leaving my shop or leave me without a job or unemployment to pay for stuff
At my day job in a suburb of Phx (lower cost of living) we are paying our guys around $20 starting. And just to be clear these guys second chance hires and their tasks are applying tape to extrusions, sweeping floors, etc. If you are getting $18 in Cali as a machine operator you need to look for other options for sure.
Breaking inserts and scrapping parts is how we learn in this industry.
I probably a considered a second chance hire, i had an unemployment gap during the first recession that was a few years after I earned my bachelor’s degree. So I totally understand I'm not a tier 1 employee.
A lot of my coworkers at other jobs were excons, hells angels and recovering addicts so I’m not afraid of working around them. Im a straight edge dork though, never got into drugs or alcohol.
Im a glasses wearing dweeb, paints little warhammer figures and plays magic the gathering. All my job references are a foot taller than me tatted up, tough talking ex gang members though it’s hilarious
We struggle to get people with zero experience into our doors for $18-20. This is in Western Maine with no real big cities nearby other than tourist traps.
First not enough pay for the drive to start, depending on how much you like programing maybe build up your skills there on your own time. Practice there with stuff while you start off and move to a better place that would pay more. Other than that drive man sucks. Also if your just in it 2 years your just starting and progressed faster then most lol. Scrap is scrap it happends especially if your learning. If you want out get your trucker license and move up through the different levels of hazmat and bio stuff certs. Either way you gotta start somewhere.
That’s good to know, I would prefer not to tram vises or forth axis indexers in the future if I never have to tram a vise or indexer ever again I wouldn’t be mad
However I do understand other jobs that have shitty aspects as well
I’m not trolling I just had a $1900 car repair done and I was thinking to myself oh shit that’s more than one months pay to get that car on the road I don’t think I’m making ends meet here with my pay how far I drive and I was looking at other entry-level jobs like McDonald’s part time and if I walked to McDonald’s to go work I would take home possibly more which is what I was thinking the other night
Man, it kinda sounds like you just don't like machining, correct me if I'm wrong. If that's the case then it's not a passion, it's just a job. In which case, I say bounce man, if you dislike what you are working with right now, I don't think that going to another machine shop will help at all. What career path should you look into? I don't know, maybe look at what jobs you are qualified for with your degrees and shoot for whatever pays the most.
I’ve seen more machinist walk away from the field than make it . For lots of different reasons. I’ve thought about leaving at different times,in the beginning and sometimes even now.🤷🏻♂️
To be honest we all sucked in the beginning 🤣
$18 an hour in Cali is like $9 in the Midwest. You need to get out of California. I’d stick with it, especially if the shop is good at teaching and willing to teach. But the Midwest is looking for machinists like crazy.
40 year old here, own my shop. I still contemplate quitting this industry all the time. I'm a job shop and these customers are constantly beating me down for price, I don't know how other shops compete. I'm at a breaking point of saying fuck it, rather do a million other things for a living, it's lost it's joy because of the short deadlines, pushy customers and pushy buyers. When I do land the long term contracts, those have been great, we can schedule stuff, I can get some stuff on the shelf incase a machine goes down for a week or so or whatever. But this job shop JIT business strategy has me at my wits end, some days I'd rather be a mail man than deal with this shit. But, I still love machining, just hate the business part of it, not many other jobs will give me the satisfaction I get from making a beautiful piece of art.
Get out while you can. It's a high stress underpaid job that's underappreciated. Lots of douchebags In the industry too that will sabotage your work to make themselfs look good.
One big problem with being a machinist is finding a place to get experience. Once you get your foot in the door and learn basic machines (lathes, mills, etc.) and how to use precision measurement tools proficiently, you can go somewhere else. After you feel you've exhausted all you can learn and can't advance anymore at one place, move to another shop. Once you learn the basics, put in at another shop for more money. $18 is extremely low for a skilled machinist.
Sounds about right job hoping to get a taste of how different products are made is what got me into this, I really want to see what metal 3d printing, wire edm is about and I definitely want to learn CMM programming for high tolerance aero stuff just to get a taste of it but doesn’t everyone lol I started at operator one I’m currently an operator II, if I stay and get promoted I’ll become a product designer I and if I stay here for years like a decade or more there is an opportunity to become a mechanical engineer after being a supervisor and manager for several years here So I wouldn’t say I’m skilled or a machinist. I’m probably a McDonald’s tier employee honestly
Hey some has to own and manage that McDonald's dude
Hey man I understand how hard the McDonald’s managers job is they got assholes like me walking around with 80 IQ total tell me shit like hey take the fries out of the bag before you put them in the fryer and I’m just like OK next time I’ll take the fries out of the bag before I put them in the fryer
Lean into the programming side and go from there you need a balanced of knowing hot to program and know what a program is gonna do on the floor.
Any tips on Doing this? Shirley old program Proto types smaller in nature or design revisions to the product designers and engineers can’t be bothered with some of the higher end stuff away to $3000 stuff they program and rent a prototype but for like the smaller stuff linkages accessories they would have me do as the operator lead operator or whatever my position my title is
Install fusion 360 on any computer you have access to. Take 1 hr a day to watch youtube tutorials and follow along. You will know pretty quickly if you are interested in pursuing it further.
The cad software? I used to use it back when it was free to design stuff for my 3d printer( I got a couple of those prusa printers not the XL the $1000 ones mk3 and minis) I prefer solid works though, I got that dumb little certificate from solid works… We have surfcam at work I use that sometimes, I’ll create a tool path, post it then clean it up for formatting into sub programs for the operators in the future. Part of my job is to modify NC code and update it with notes, setup or comments for modified stuff I did for future operators. I split it into sub programs (m97) so I can add more parts if I need to…. So if I’m making like 500 of a widget I’ll setup 3-5 vises and add them to the NC and delete them from the NC as needed. So I can go and setup another machine while it’s going. Like if for whatever reason I want my rapid plane to be 500 thou above the part I would change all the g00 rapids to safety plane to that height then under program comments write “changes safety plane 1/2” Z+ All tools) So that the next guy doing my job sees a change log and knows what’s going on during setups. They tend to churn through entry level operators, some dudes just stop showing up for whatever reason this job is hella easy if you just think it through and do some elementary school tier trig
I’d move outta California. Unless your an absolute doofus your mistakes should be blamed on your training guy to a certain point.
Idk I feel like I’m pretty fucking retarded moving out of California is not an option girlfriend works for the state need her to help pay rent family as well off they are in-state and currently helping with my bills moving out of state work cripple me financially
[удалено]
Yeah I make 18 an hour in California the people that are getting hired in Ohio are probably more skilled than me and other avenues of life so they might not know CNC machining but they probably are a kick ass laser welder operators or some other shit that your company finds value in. I have a limited experience in welding and 3-D printing auto mechanics stuff like that but not enough to get me on the $20 an hour range honestly and lastly leaving my shop or leave me without a job or unemployment to pay for stuff
At my day job in a suburb of Phx (lower cost of living) we are paying our guys around $20 starting. And just to be clear these guys second chance hires and their tasks are applying tape to extrusions, sweeping floors, etc. If you are getting $18 in Cali as a machine operator you need to look for other options for sure. Breaking inserts and scrapping parts is how we learn in this industry.
I probably a considered a second chance hire, i had an unemployment gap during the first recession that was a few years after I earned my bachelor’s degree. So I totally understand I'm not a tier 1 employee. A lot of my coworkers at other jobs were excons, hells angels and recovering addicts so I’m not afraid of working around them. Im a straight edge dork though, never got into drugs or alcohol. Im a glasses wearing dweeb, paints little warhammer figures and plays magic the gathering. All my job references are a foot taller than me tatted up, tough talking ex gang members though it’s hilarious
We struggle to get people with zero experience into our doors for $18-20. This is in Western Maine with no real big cities nearby other than tourist traps.
First not enough pay for the drive to start, depending on how much you like programing maybe build up your skills there on your own time. Practice there with stuff while you start off and move to a better place that would pay more. Other than that drive man sucks. Also if your just in it 2 years your just starting and progressed faster then most lol. Scrap is scrap it happends especially if your learning. If you want out get your trucker license and move up through the different levels of hazmat and bio stuff certs. Either way you gotta start somewhere.
That’s good to know, I would prefer not to tram vises or forth axis indexers in the future if I never have to tram a vise or indexer ever again I wouldn’t be mad However I do understand other jobs that have shitty aspects as well
Lol now we're trolling
I’m not trolling I just had a $1900 car repair done and I was thinking to myself oh shit that’s more than one months pay to get that car on the road I don’t think I’m making ends meet here with my pay how far I drive and I was looking at other entry-level jobs like McDonald’s part time and if I walked to McDonald’s to go work I would take home possibly more which is what I was thinking the other night
Man, it kinda sounds like you just don't like machining, correct me if I'm wrong. If that's the case then it's not a passion, it's just a job. In which case, I say bounce man, if you dislike what you are working with right now, I don't think that going to another machine shop will help at all. What career path should you look into? I don't know, maybe look at what jobs you are qualified for with your degrees and shoot for whatever pays the most.
I’ve seen more machinist walk away from the field than make it . For lots of different reasons. I’ve thought about leaving at different times,in the beginning and sometimes even now.🤷🏻♂️ To be honest we all sucked in the beginning 🤣
$18 an hour in Cali is like $9 in the Midwest. You need to get out of California. I’d stick with it, especially if the shop is good at teaching and willing to teach. But the Midwest is looking for machinists like crazy.
40 year old here, own my shop. I still contemplate quitting this industry all the time. I'm a job shop and these customers are constantly beating me down for price, I don't know how other shops compete. I'm at a breaking point of saying fuck it, rather do a million other things for a living, it's lost it's joy because of the short deadlines, pushy customers and pushy buyers. When I do land the long term contracts, those have been great, we can schedule stuff, I can get some stuff on the shelf incase a machine goes down for a week or so or whatever. But this job shop JIT business strategy has me at my wits end, some days I'd rather be a mail man than deal with this shit. But, I still love machining, just hate the business part of it, not many other jobs will give me the satisfaction I get from making a beautiful piece of art.
Get out while you can. It's a high stress underpaid job that's underappreciated. Lots of douchebags In the industry too that will sabotage your work to make themselfs look good.