Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing

What the job really is

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

At a glance

• Sector: Production
• O*NET-SOC code: 51-7042
• O*NET job zone: 2 — some preparation
• Work sample tasks on file: 12
• Tools and technologies listed: 12

What you actually do

Work sample tasks recorded for this occupation:

• Attach and adjust guides, stops, clamps, chucks, or feed mechanisms, using hand tools.
• Set up, program, operate, or tend computerized or manual woodworking machines, such as drill presses, lathes, shapers, routers, sanders, planers, or wood-nailing machines.
• Examine finished workpieces for smoothness, shape, angle, depth-of-cut, or conformity to specifications and verify dimensions, visually and using hands, rules, calipers, templates, or gauges.
• Start machines, adjust controls, and make trial cuts to ensure that machinery is operating properly.
• Monitor operation of machines and make adjustments to correct problems and ensure conformance to specifications.
• Examine raw woodstock for defects and to ensure conformity to size and other specification standards.
• Adjust machine tables or cutting devices and set controls on machines to produce specified cuts or operations.
• Install and adjust blades, cutterheads, boring-bits, or sanding-belts, using hand tools and rules.
• Change alignment and adjustment of sanding, cutting, or boring machine guides to prevent defects in finished products, using hand tools.
• Determine product specifications and materials, work methods, and machine setup requirements, according to blueprints, oral or written instructions, drawings, or work orders.
• Feed stock through feed mechanisms or conveyors into planing, shaping, boring, mortising, or sanding machines to produce desired components.
• Push or hold workpieces against, under, or through cutting, boring, or shaping mechanisms.

Tools and technology

Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Creative Cloud software, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, Apple macOS, Autodesk AutoCAD, Dassault Systemes SolidWorks, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office software, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft PowerPoint

What employers expect you to already be comfortable with.

Where this job leads

Related occupations — the usual moves up and sideways:

• Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood
• Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
• Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
• Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
• Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
• Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
• Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
• Textile Cutting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

Getting in

O*NET assigns this occupation job zone 2 (some preparation). The related occupations above are the realistic routes in and out.

Find openings

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Check this against the source

O*NET OnLine: Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing — the authoritative public-domain profile this page is derived from, including the full task list, reported skills and the wage estimates for your region.

Derived and rewritten from the public-domain O*NET database (U.S. Department of Labor / Employment and Training Administration). Figures are observations, not promises — always confirm salary, licensing and visa requirements with the employer and the relevant authority.