want to be a machinist for a job

[xXvapourXx]

Hello everyone
i thought the best place to ask is here, im only 14 but i want to be a machinist as in using lathes and mills and stuff like that so what would i look into, this isnt for now althoughi wouldnt mind doing it now but it would mostly be for future.

Since im heading for year 10 next year we have subject selections so what shood i look into?

Also sorry if im rude but to other machinist what is the pay like? Crap,average or good

[Dave J]

Can't help on the pay, but I know 20 years ago my brother wasn't getting much (under $10 and hour 1st year)
The mines would be a good spot and would be a good pay. Have a talk to your career supervisor at school and they will help you out and let you know what options are around.
Some companies like you to finish year 12 before hiring, where others will take you after year 10.

Dave

[welder]

hi i cant help you out but i am in year ten this year and next year i am trying to get a school based apprenticeship which is one day at tafe, one day at work and 3 days at school. so you are one year ahead on an apprenticeship and get an hsc.

[Dave J]

hi i cant help you out but i am in year ten this year and next year i am trying to get a school based apprenticeship which is one day at tafe, one day at work and 3 days at tafe. so you are one year ahead on an apprenticeship and get an hsc.


Sounds like the way to go. My son has a guy at work that did something like that, as he is a 3rd year, but has only worked their for 2 years.

Dave

[Bryan]

Hope you like maths and computers. You will need them for CNC machining. Maths is relevant to any machining and all kinds of other things. I wish I payed more attention to it at school. And I think most machining - at least production stuff - is all CNC these days. Er sorry, that means Computer Numeric Control. Manual machining skills - like most of us backyarders here use - are great to have as background but I don't know if there's much future in manual machining. I hope someone with more industry background will comment.

[xXvapourXx]

and get an hsc.

whats a hsc?

I might go for night courses for tafe when i turn 16 which is next year and maybe study mechanical engineering. maybe

[welder]

The Higher School Certificate, or HSC, is the credential awarded to secondary school students who successfully complete senior high school level studies (Years 11 and 12 or equivalent) in New South Wales

[Pat]

HSC (NSW) is the equivulant of South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE).

[bollie7]

Mate
I'm a Fitter and Machinist by trade, and when I was on the tools I was mainly a fitter. When I was your age, it was the only thing I wanted to do. Now 35 years later, my advice is, if you are any good at maths, and are not colour blind, try and get an apprenticeship as an electrician and do your machining at home as a hobby.
My reasons for saying this are.

1) Elecos have traditionally got higher wages than Fitters and Machinists (might not apply in the mining sector)

2) F & M (particularly fitting) is usually a physically demanding job. (ok when you are young but not so good as you get older) Most fitters end up with bad backs and stuffed hands.

3) As an eleco, if you get your contractors licence, you can get set up in business for yourself (if you want to) a whole lot cheaper than you can as a machinist. ie Eleco -used van $25K, say $15k for equipment and stock.
Machinist - Shed $/week $200 -$300??, used, decent sized lathe in good cond $25K?, Mill $10K, tooling at least $10K to be competetive, and thats not counting other gear like grinders etc plus a bit of material stock.

4) As an eleco there are a lot of paths you can take- ie electronics, mechatronics (robotics) instrumentation & control etc to name a couple, and its relatively easy to change career path. With F&M its a bit harder to change as the range of options is more limited and most of them are still physically demanding.

5) You have to keep in mind what you might be doing in your life in 10 -20 years etc. By the time you are 26 you might well be married with a couple of kids and a mortgage. This is when it becomes extremely hard to change career as you get locked in financially and can't afford to take a drop in wgaes while you retrain.
I know for a young bloke your age 26 or 36 seems like a long time away, (I used to think the same) but I can assure you (as most of us oldies here would) that it comes up really quick.

6) As a machinist you will always smell of coolant, the smell gets into your skin.:C

Sorry if this sounds a bit like a lecture, but you get like that when you are a parent:roll:

What ever you end up doing, I wish you all the best with it, as there doesn't seem to be that many young blokes interested in working with their hands these days./
regards

Bollie7

[Big Shed]

Having a son who was dead set on becoming a Fitter and Turner, and having given him the same lecture almost verbatim, I would have to agree wholeheartedly with the above advice, and so would said son.

He didn't at the time though!

He hasn't worked on the tools for a long time, has a good job in supply management for a national company and makes decent money.

He often says he wished he had become a sparkie.

Like you said, only way to make decent money on the tools is to "go north young man" and work in the mining industry.

[matthew_g]

I only have one thing to say "GOOD ON YA"
Not too many 14 year olds out there thinking about their future. These days it seems to be all about partying and drugs...So 10 points for joining us in the real world..
I have always said if you want something bad enough.......
Matt

[xXvapourXx]

Im considering of being a mechanical engineer but in sa there isnt much places that do mechanical engineering unless you go to the bigger states like melbourne and sydney and you also get good pay.
my parents dont want me to be a sparkie because they reckon its really dangerous because my grandfarther has had a friend die from being a sparkie. He also gives me lectures saying: you have one chance and thats it.

Also woulnt mind being a weapons engineer since i like guns, hopefully you guys dont take it the wrong way and think im going to be a serial killer.

Going to the mines would be pretty good, dad would probably do it with me if hes still working by the time i start work and if i go to the mines.

Another good job that u heard is a cnc programmer apparently.

[pipeclay]

Dont let your parents know this but people die in most if not all occupations,albiet a little more common in some.
Seems there are quite a few people die in machine shop related incidents and the mines.
Would be good if your choice of future job/s was your own final decision after investigation,no sense being in a job that you dont look forward to going to.

[xXvapourXx]

Dont let your parents know this but people die in most if not all occupations,albiet a little more common in some.

thats very true.


Would be good if your choice of future job/s was your own final decision after investigation,no sense being in a job that you dont look forward to going to.

It would be good and a very good point.

[neksmerj]

If I were starting out again, I would go straight into mechanical design. I grew up as a draftsman, then specialised into designing, then retired. Designing will involve you in taking a client's thoughts, and turning them into reality. You will be challenged every day with new problems to solve.This will give you a terrific grounding in all things mechanical.

The dough is good at $60 an hour an upwards.

Still purchase a lathe and mill, or at least a lathe to start off, as a hobby. Start mowing the lawns and washing dad's car every week, then put the squeeze on for a loan. Point out to dad he is investing in your future.

Good luck.

Ken

[xXvapourXx]

If I were starting out again, I would go straight into mechanical design. I grew up as a draftsman, then specialised into designing, then retired. Designing will involve you in taking a client's thoughts, and turning them into reality. You will be challenged every day with new problems to solve.This will give you a terrific grounding in all things mechanical.

Hmm something i like doing now with friends and family :D


The dough is good at $60 an hour an upwards.

Man i love when people say dough it always makes me laugh but that is a very good pay. If i do become a mechanical engineer ill would buy my dad and mum something but especially dad since he works 6 days a week and he has a really bad neck :/ and pretty much gets #### all pay from his job :/


Still purchase a lathe and mill, or at least a lathe to start off, as a hobby. Start mowing the lawns and washing dad's car every week, then put the squeeze on for a loan. Point out to dad he is investing in your future.

Good luck.

Im probably going to be getting a lathe for my birthday present from my dads side of the family and if i do man is the forum going to know all about it hahah.

[azzrock]

Mate
I'm a Fitter and Machinist by trade, and when I was on the tools I was mainly a fitter. When I was your age, it was the only thing I wanted to do. Now 35 years later, my advice is, if you are any good at maths, and are not colour blind, try and get an apprenticeship as an electrician and do your machining at home as a hobby.

Bollie7

i agree with all of this.
i work as a heavy equipment fitter, I work with sparkys every day. they seem to age better than us. quite often a lot of our good mechanical skills(all the fun stuff) are less
and less required . We just fit and remove parts made and repaired by some one else
i still like the work and the money is good more than $50 an hour for a guy who can hardly spell. When we where learning and every now and then on the job, our maths has to be spot on.
good luck any mate.

[Brett22]

I work in the mining industry, and Iam a fitter and machinist by trade. i did my apprenticship in Brisbane and soon after completing it headed north to work in the mining sector as a machinist, I can say fom first hand experience you will earn a lot more working in the mines, keep in mind tho many people get into this industry expecting to get paid a fortune for doing nothing, for the most part your base rate will be low around $35-$40 an hour and the only way to make it worthwhile is to work heaps of overtime I personnally worked around 12 hours a day six days a week.
I used to work on dragline parts and earthmoving equipment (500 ton excavators etc), the work is big and hard going but rewarding at the same time.

I have since given up the job for a more family friendly service fitter job supervising coal crushing machinery maintenance. I have got a fairly serious metal working shop at home and can honestly say machining as a hooby is far more satisfying but dont let this detere you by no means, conventional machinist not just CNC machinist are still sort after and earning good money.

[xXvapourXx]

after hearing everyone's thoughts and stuff i think i might go with becoming a mechanical engineer if not a sparkie for a back up job. Im kinda deciding if i should work at the mines or work for the army as a gun designer/builder in the army.

[new_guy90]

I am a Second year fitting and turning apprentice in a Jobbing shop here in Brisbane and I love what I do but is it what I thought when i was 14? absolutely not lol you are in a good time right now stay in school! here is my advice

In grade 10 I did work experience with Queensland rail in the hopes of becoming an engineer :2tsup: well doing engineering at Uni got shot down fairly fast when i met some engineers! the work shop is where everything happens. At Q rail they taught me basic lathe work thread cutting and the like (years after no one has taught me again not even Tafe hopefully next block) they could do this because they had workers who's responsibility is to teach the apprentices rather than run machines so my first advice is
#1 try and do work experience at you local rail way workshops or large company (the larger the better)

I work in what is called a jobbing shop which is where a customer wants something made and we make it :U sounds like fun? it is, we also get a variety of work but everything boils down to time and work Exp kids who have come to our shop just sweep the floor and maybe do an easy/crap job in a CNC. The worst machine shop type is the production shop they make the same things day in day out, you are not a machinist in a production shop you are a factory worker! ITS BOREING AS HELL! LOL
#2 think hard before taking a job in a jobbing shop or production shop unless IT is REALLY good! I mean nice boss, skilled workers and and a willingness to teach you is the utmost importance

If you dont already know what a CNC is you soon will! manual machines are mostly obsolete for production work, we still do loads of manual turning but no milling. Now I run the CNC mills at work and dont do much manual work but I can If needed and that is a benefit to everyone lol learn as much as you can CNC's are easy as pie but manual machines take skill loads of CNC operators cant do anything manually.
#3 learn as much as you can, write everything down and dont turn down an opportunity to learn more oh did I say write it all down it maybe 6months before you do it again!



Also sorry if im rude but to other machinist what is the pay like? Crap,average or good

This is a very good point DONT sign and apprenticeship with a group training company like *^%$# Trades they rip you off by paying you so little and my boss finds it to expensive to pay me overtime so I only get 38hours a week. Big companies pay good hint hint
#4 DONT sign with a group training company!

If you stick with it an apprenticeship in fitting and turning is great but you have to do the hard yards and the crap work first,

If you are looking at other avenues diesel fitting pays great lol

[xXvapourXx]

If you dont already know what a CNC is you soon will

haha i know what a cnc is it is a computer controlled lathe/mill or another type of machine

So jobbing is something that people go to to get something made but the workers do it not the customer correct?
That is something i would love to do :D But i would probably have to move from Adelaide since they have #### all job and its the most unemployed state in Australia apparently.
I hope to do night courses at tafe in year 10 for becoming a mechanical engineer and i think its like a 4 year course, correct me if im wrong.
Might have to come and work with you New_guy when im old enough and your still working at that jobbing place, i think it would be good actually because i know my dad would move to Queensland because he hates Adelaide with the passion and so do I :) hahaha

[Bryan]

Cooper, the term Engineer is a confusing one because it can mean many things. If you're talking about studying a course to become an engineer, that would be a degree at uni, and you'd better really like maths and driving a desk and want to end up as a manager. OTOH to 'do engineering' or work in 'the engineering trades' is probably more what you mean: metalwork, machining, fabrication, making and fixing stuff etc. I think engineer originally meant someone who fixes and operates(?) steam engines, like trains, and the term kind of split off in different directions. That's my understanding anyway. Weirdos from other states may use terms differently. :q

So if you roll up to TAFE and say you want to be an engineer they may look at you funny.

PS: Toolmaking is another field you may want to research (Google).

[xXvapourXx]

yea Thats what i want to do is fabricate and stuff with metal but what would i have to look into?
This is course i was going to do: http://www.tafesa.edu.au/xml/module/crsemod_GZF.aspx?src=\xml\course\aw\aw_GZF&Y=2012
is mechanical egineer advance trade a type of job, not sure how to put it but the courses at tafe do lots with cnc programming and using machinery not so much office stuff for there courses.

Diploma of Engineering - Advanced Trade: seems to be more working with machinery and working in small groups building things and working machines but Advanced Diploma of Engineering seems to be more on office work and all that stuff.

either way if i did do this mechanical engineering advance trade course would i still be able to get a job in fabricating or doing what new guy does constructing things for people?

[Dave J]

I was told off an RTA mechanical engineer a few years ago it cost him around $100,000 to go through and be where he is, that was 20 years ago. He said it would be more like $150,000-$200,000 these days.
So it not only takes time and skill, but a lot of money.:o
Dave

[Bryan]

None of the skills in that list would go astray, but I had to back-track to find out who the course was intended for:


TAFE SA offers pre-apprenticeship training that equips graduates with the skills to seek apprenticeships in mechanical trades such as fitter and turner, maintenance fitter, toolmaker, machinist, CAD drafter, and CNC operator.

Sounds like a great start to me. But others who may have done recent TAFE study will be better qualified to comment. It's along time since I was there. Before you were born! :( And I was wrong about them looking at you funny. Obviously they're using the E word in a very general way, which is fine.

[xXvapourXx]

ok awesome i chose VET for one of my subjects which means i go to tafe and do a certificate 1 course of what i want to do so it should be good and im studying extended maths and science which means you get more maths and science every week than what a average year 10 would get so that should get me better at maths. and help me do better in trades :D

[.RC.]

You will get out of your desired trade only what you put into it...

And all of them can lead to a good job with good money if you desire it...

[xXvapourXx]

You will get out of your desired trade only what you put into it...

And all of them can lead to a good job with good money if you desire it...

very good point :)

Does anyone know if honden lathes are any good, i didn't really want to make a new thread so ill just put it in here.
To me they seem to be a Chinese lathe but i could be wrong.

Link to lathe: http://adelaide.gumtree.com.au/c-Stuff-for-Sale-tools-DIY-Honden-metal-lathe-W0QQAdIdZ307847680

[new_guy90]

haha i know what a cnc is it is a computer controlled lathe/mill or another type of machine

So jobbing is something that people go to to get something made but the workers do it not the customer correct?
That is something i would love to do :D But i would probably have to move from Adelaide since they have #### all job and its the most unemployed state in Australia apparently.
I hope to do night courses at tafe in year 10 for becoming a mechanical engineer and i think its like a 4 year course, correct me if im wrong.
Might have to come and work with you New_guy when im old enough and your still working at that jobbing place, i think it would be good actually because i know my dad would move to Queensland because he hates Adelaide with the passion and so do I :) hahaha

You dont want to come work for the guys I do its a ruff shop. Yes a Jobbing shop is where the workers make the parts for the customers, Its the normal type of machine shop that would be on any street but dont think its just little jobs we make stuff for the mines in WA, big rollers for the tissue factory down the road and brick molds that cause head achs every time we make them :(( we have 3 five axis mills with 4M long tables.

You should have no problem finding work where ever you are believe me finish grade 12 things are so much easier when you leave with those papers! you could easily find a job in the mines loads of companies take on apprentices and they train you good! plus the money is great!!! boilermakers, fitters and diesel fitters I think are the most common jobs but they still need machinists someone else maybe able to give you more tips on what jobs are In the mines