Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
Set up, operate, or tend milling or planing machines to mill, plane, shape, groove, or profile metal or plastic work pieces.
- Median pay
- $52,800
- Doing it now
- 12,400
- By 2035
- Down 13.2%
- Usually needs
- High school diploma or equivalent
a year
across the country
1,000 openings a year
to get in
What the work involves
- Remove workpieces from machines, and check to ensure that they conform to specifications, using measuring instruments such as microscopes, gauges, calipers, and micrometers.
- Observe milling or planing machine operation, and adjust controls to ensure conformance with specified tolerances.
- Position and secure workpieces on machines, using holding devices, measuring instruments, hand tools, and hoists.
- Study blueprints, layouts, sketches, or work orders to assess workpiece specifications and to determine tooling instructions, tools and materials needed, and sequences of operations.
- Move controls to set cutting specifications, to position cutting tools and workpieces in relation to each other, and to start machines.
- Compute dimensions, tolerances, and angles of workpieces or machines according to specifications and knowledge of metal properties and shop mathematics.
- Verify alignment of workpieces on machines, using measuring instruments such as rules, gauges, or calipers.
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
- Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic$47,720
- Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic$46,550
- 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 $52,800 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.