Metal is used in a wide range of products because of its extreme durability. Machinists turn blocks of metal into complex, intricate metal parts for other products. They also fit and assemble metal parts and sub-assemblies, ensuring the parts in these products meet exacting standards in size, strength and hardness. Machinist is a nationally designated trade under the Inter-provincial Red Seal program. (Find out about Red Seal in the Trades Lingo section.)



What do these workers do?
(Source: BC Work Futures)

Inspect manufactured and machined components. Metal components must be precise. Flaws in engine components can lead to spectacularly violent vibrations and engine failure. Production parts be checked thoroughly before they are used, and as a machine inspector you will devise quality checks that ensure the finished product is as close as possible to design specifications.

Learn specialized machine shop skills. Write programs for Computer Numeric Controlled (CNC) machine tools. This advanced skill is often required in machine shops. The more you learn about different manufacturers' machines, the more opportunity you will have.

Read and interpret blueprints and CAD files. Your job as a machinist is to translate blueprints and digital design files into a finished product. Reading blueprints requires skill and experience. You will use your knowledge of machining to interpret the designer's intention and, when this isn't possible, you will seek clarification or ask for expanded drawings. The confidence to do this during the fast pace of production comes from experience.

Operate milling machinery. Good machinists can do amazing things with a few versatile tools, such as mills, lathes and grinders. Using micrometers, a variety of cutting bits, lubricants and speeds, machinists produce an amazing variety of objects from metal stock and hardwood. Your skill in setting up a machine for varied tasks sets you apart from machine operators who use machines that have been designed for one purpose.

Listen and feel for machine harmonics and temperature. Machinists must be constantly aware of the temperature of the stock they are cutting. Because metal expands as it gets hot, cutting precision changes as the metal heats up. These workers must constantly adjust to the expansion and contraction of the metal. This is usually accomplished by working with the metal at a high temperature, although this isn't always possible as the molecular properties of some alloys change negatively with heat. As you can see, working with machine tools requires an in-depth understanding of metal properties and interactions.

Manufacture custom pieces. Machinists manufacture small batches of finished products for which the precision required or the number of pieces required doesn't warrant setting up a full production line. Machinists also do some of the work of tool and die makers. In this capacity, they set up production lines and machinery for machine operators to run.

Read the full Machinist Profile (40kb pdf).

Enter your own tags for this trade below
(separate each tag with a comma).