Machining.Blog® is a weekly blog focused on manufacturing career development. It features blog articles on the fundamentals of manufacturing for aspiring machinists. Our goal is to create an interest in manufacturing in the USA. Our writer Matthew Schowalter has worked in manufacturing for 24 years, and he covers the topics that matter to someone starting their career in manufacturing.
“The soft skills the machinist uses are the unseen tools in their box and can directly impact the success or failure of a dreamed after machining career.”
All in Machinist
I was provided with a few opportunities to talk about my STEM project and my career in several schools. It can be a very rewarding experience to a part of. I never saw myself as a speaker or presenter but with my deep knowledge in the subject, I developed a passion for sharing my experiences in manufacturing.
My first project in technical collage for tool and die making was to make 1-2-3 blocks. I milled the blocks oversize to leave stock for precision grinding. After drilling and tapping the holes in the blocks, we case hardened them. The last process was to precision grind them to size. The grinding process involved both grinding to blocks to size and to a squareness tolerance.
With the shortage of manufacturing workers in the United States we must start to investigate the situation closer to fill the jobs of today and tomorrow. Besides the worker compensation, benefits, work environment, and career development topics that may influence career decisions in manufacturing, we should now look closer into the following topics.
Knowing what features to inspect on machined parts, being aware of machining conditions, and what items and details to deburr can make all the difference in the success of the manufacturing project. By mastering these three items, it will set you apart as a great machinist. Let’s review in detail.
Each program has a program number, that should be different from other program numbers
Each line of code in a CNC program is called a “Block”. It contains G and M codes in it.
The block cannot have two M-codes in it
The ending of a Block has a End-of-Block symbol and it is a semi-colon. (Example: G1X.5; )
While spending much of my career working in the medical machining industry, it was an education into complex part machining. What is being done today in the machining industry is exceptional. Now a highly engineered part can be made compete in one setup in a machine that can turn, mill, drill, hob, broach, thread whirl, and gun drill parts. I have implemented lathes from 5-axis models up to 11-axis models. Here is a breakdown of what it might take to implement advanced lathes.
When I got started in machining, I really didn’t know what kind of tools to purchase. There is a vast variety of tooling to use in the shop, from inspection tools to hand tools. While having a limited budget, I had to choose to first buy the tools that I thought that I would use the most. This will vary from machine shop to machine shop often dependent on the type of work that the machinist does. Here is a list of some of the more popular choices for tools:
The workflow varies from shop to shop, but we will breakdown what it might take to process a CNC lathe part.
How we are taught how to pronounce a measurement in mathematics class is different from how we pronounce a measurement in machine shop class. In the following chart, I will break down the decimal place pronunciation of 0.123456.
Machining could be a stressful job, but it is as stressful as you make it out to be. For example, there are many things to consider when machining parts, like quality issues, time deadlines, and machining conditions. These items may be stressful when you look at everything at once, but if you form a plan with many individual goals to meet it will add up to the end goal of making a quality part and on time.
So, you have finished your education, either in high school or post-secondary trade school or both, and you are ready to find that machine shop meant for you. Many people do not take compatibility into consideration when completing their job search, but they should.
There are many terms to know and understand in the machining industry. If you are just getting started in the industry, we have designed this list to better prepare you for the job.
Machining is by far more interesting than what most people know. From the challenges of implementing new complex equipment in the shop, to CNC programming, or even making complex parts in one setup. It is definitely a career choice that most don’t know how advanced it can be, especially the machining of today. Now, we can make parts in one setup that were once made in many setups on multiple pieces of equipment over a long time frame. My career is a success story in manufacturing technology as I have embraced the technology of today.
The machinist’s role is to setup advanced CNC machines and monitor the cutting conditions as the machine makes parts. As the machinist makes the parts, they inspect the parts with inspection tools and adjust the CNC parameters to achieve a conforming part that is within specifications.
I don’t know a single CNC machine shop that has an easy time hiring machinists, and would say they have enough well-qualified candidates. The fact is that there is more demand than supply, with not enough young people coming into the industry to fill the positions that are needed by machine shops today. On one hand, it's great news in general, that the demand for machinists is strong. Onshoring seems to be a longer-term trend now and the demand for machined parts in North America is strong, which is fantastic. The shadow side is that it’s tough to find machinists and most shops feel that pain, which inhibits their ability to grow at the pace they could theoretically if hiring was not a problem.
