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.
- Median pay
- $48,750
- Doing it now
- 14,400
- By 2035
- Down 9.5%
- Usually needs
- High school diploma or equivalent
a year
across the country
1,100 openings a year
to get in
What the work involves
- 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.
- Remove parts from furnaces after specified times, and air dry or cool parts in water, oil brine, or other baths.
- 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.
- Move controls to light gas burners and to adjust gas and water flow and flame temperature.
What to study
The fields of study the Department of Education links to this occupation, most widely taught first.
- Precision Metal WorkingSee 4 colleges that teach it
Who it suits
O*NET scores every occupation on six interest dimensions. This one leans hardest on these three.
Hands-on and practical
Organised and precise
Analytical and curious
Careers like this one
- Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic$46,330
- Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic$47,180
- Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers$53,750
- Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic$46,550
- Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic$47,720
- Sheet Metal Workers$61,800
Where this comes from: the description and the task list are O*NET, which the Department of Labor maintains. Pay, workforce size, outlook and the education normally needed are the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections programme, 2025 wages and 2025 to 2035 projections. Half of them earn more than $48,750 a year, which means half earn less, and what you would earn depends on where you work and how long you have been doing it. The fields of study come from the National Center for Education Statistics crosswalk.