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Woodworking Machine Worker

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AVG. SALARY

$33,260

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EDUCATION

High school preferred +

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JOB OUTLOOK

Decreasing

What They Do

Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders Career Video

About This Career

Sets up, operates, or tends woodworking machines, such as drill presses, lathes, shapers, routers, sanders, planers, and wood nailing machines. May operate computer numerically controlled (CNC) equipment.

This career is part of the Manufacturing cluster Production pathway.

A person in this career:

  • Sets up, programs, operates, or tends computerized or manual woodworking machines, such as drill presses, lathes, shapers, routers, sanders, planers, or wood-nailing machines.
  • Examines finished workpieces for smoothness, shape, angle, depth-of-cut, or conformity to specifications and verifies dimensions, visually and using hands, rules, calipers, templates, or gauges.
  • Starts machines, adjusts controls, and makes trial cuts to ensure that machinery is operating properly.
  • Monitors operation of machines and makes adjustments to correct problems and ensure conformance to specifications.
  • Examines raw woodstock for defects and to ensure conformity to size and other specification standards.
  • Adjusts machine tables or cutting devices and sets controls on machines to produce specified cuts or operations.
  • Installs and adjusts blades, cutterheads, boring-bits, or sanding-belts, using hand tools and rules.
  • Changes alignment and adjustment of sanding, cutting, or boring machine guides to prevent defects in finished products, using hand tools.
  • Determines product specifications and materials, work methods, and machine setup requirements, according to blueprints, oral or written instructions, drawings, or work orders.
  • Feeds stock through feed mechanisms or conveyors into planing, shaping, boring, mortising, or sanding machines to produce desired components.

Working Conditions and Physical Demands

People who do this job report that:

  • You would often handle loads up to 20 lbs., sometimes up to 50 lbs. You might do a lot of lifting, carrying, pushing or pulling.
  • Work in this occupation involves bending or twisting your body more than one-third of the time
  • Work in this occupation involves use of protective items such as safety shoes, glasses, gloves, hearing protection, a hard hat, or personal flotation devices
  • Exposure to pollutants, gases, dust, fumes, odors, poor ventilation, etc.
  • Work in this occupation involves using your hands to hold, control, and feel objects more than one-third of the time
  • Exposed to hazardous equipment such as saws, machinery, or vehicular traffic more than once a month
  • Sound and noise levels are loud and distracting
  • Work in this occupation involves making repetitive motions more than one-third of the time
  • Work in this occupation involves standing more than one-third of the time

Working in this career involves (physical activities):

  • Picking out a particular sound in the presence of other sounds
  • Using muscles repeatedly or over time without tiring
  • Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching
  • Seeing clearly at a distance
  • Seeing clearly up close
  • Identifying and understanding the speech of another person
  • Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying objects
  • Using abdominal and lower back muscles repeatedly or over time without tiring

Work Hours and Travel

  • Regular working hours and limited travel

Specialty and Similar Careers

Careers that are more detailed or close to this career:

  • Boring Machine Operator — Sets up and operates boring machines to bore, drill, tap, spot face, groove, mill, or ream metal workpieces according to specifications, tooling instructions, and standard charts, applying knowledge of boring procedures and machining methods.
  • Cabinet Maker — Sets up and operates variety of woodworking machines and uses various handtools to fabricate and repair wooden cabinets and high-grade furniture.
  • Knot Saw Operator
  • Lathe Operator
  • Machine Operator
  • Molder Operator
  • Router Operator
  • Sander
  • Sander Operator

Contact

  • Email Support

  • 1-800-GO-TO-XAP (1-800-468-6927)
    From outside the U.S., please call +1 (424) 750-3900

Support


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