Thread: fitter and machinist

Hello to the Fabricator!

I hope I can help a bit as I'm a Maintenance Fitter / Machinist

After a recent incident at school regarding my level of mathematical ability

I hope this means you have found you have a mathematical talent? Trigonometry and more than basic maths often come into play.

1. Pay levels for fitters vary, but are usually above average. I've landed a job that pays $30 and hour on permanent.(Well above average, but I'm also a B Class electrician)

2. Again this will vary with whom you find employment, for me maybe twice a week or more depending on the break downs.

3. I usually attend break downs on our CNC lathes, perform preventative maintenance when the machines are released from production. But as we are a small crew, we are the companies dogs bodies and we also monitor coolant and wash solution concentrations, empty the bins once a week etc.

6. If you land a job where you aren't allowed the odd "Homer", find a new one!

7. The role of a fitter is so varied that you can not possibly own one of every thing, the company should have all of the speciality tools. You will need a generic kit until you know the field or stream you will be working in. Some fitters do alot of machining and micrometers "should" be supplied by the company, but having your own is very handy as you know they are at hand and are accurate, a good set of verniers are a must.

8.I feel so, but it depends on your work ethic and the job you land. I have a very varied job, I would hate to be stuck with a repetitive role.

9. Mine was with Mitsubishi and we all spent three months is various departments to gain experience, with one day off per week for three years to go to TAFE.

I hope others can help you a bit more, mine is mainly a fitting role with break down machining / welding as required.

Mark

Originally Posted by the fabricator

1. How is the pay, not that it really matters.Varies per award
2. How often do you use the machines? Depends on the work flow
3. What type of work do you do? Varies with the type of shop
4. How far does you TFYT voucher get you? Probably buys 10% of what you will need -again it varies
5. Can anyone give me a day in the life?
6. Does you employer let you make your own quick projects every once in a while? Smaller places are more likely to do this.But a good operator should be able to organise around this.
7. What tools do machinists and fitters mostly use, eg micrometres, parallels, vee blocks etc, so i can get the kit that i need for my apprenticeship? Basic measuring & marking gear first,scriber,rules,inside / outside calipers,dividers,micrometers & verniers-buy goodstuff like Mitutoyo,Starret, Mooore & Wright
8. is it a good, rewarding job? Your own personal attitude makes the job
9. How are fitting and machining apprenticeships set out, days on and off the job, schoolwork for tafe, classes etc Usually 1month block training at Tafe for theory and a lot of practical done on the job and assessed on site - may vary between states
10. Do you start right away on the 25 foot floor borers or on 500mm between centre bench laths and work your way up .More like the drill press drilling 5000 holes LOL
11. What machine tools do you use and how often?

i think thats all lol

thanks in advance

I can answer most of this as I have seen what the apprentices did at where I worked in industry. trust me until you proove yourself the new kid will get the boringly simple jobs.

Grahame

Well fitting and machining must be a good thing if you get to use a drill press first up, when I started my cabinet making aprenticeship first thing I got to use was a broom!

Originally Posted by China

Well fitting and machining must be a good thing if you get to use a drill press first up, when I started my cabinet making aprenticeship first thing I got to use was a broom!

Yep, same for an apprentice in ANY machine shop, your the lowest of the low, so you will get the broom and other crud jobs the others dont want. Most apprentices learn very quickly, that it aint no joke hanging of a 9 inch angle grinder.

You'll have to prove that your interested before your allowed any where near the machines.

If your math is a bit dodgy, then do not even bother trying for an apprenticeship in this trade, look for something else that does not require a lot of math.

Sorry to be the wet blanket, but that's the way it is.

Mark

well, about the attitude thing, i want a home shop, how many apprentices want that to hone their skills!

my maths is above average, engineering standard, i can do trig, equations, functions, all your machining maths im great at

I don't doubt you have the right stuff,the problem initially is showing your employer you have it.

One of my year 11's is working with a local gen machining shop for a $100 per day over his semester break.

He got the work because he had organised himself into work experience a long time before the school system got around to it.

To boot he is from a property ,so he has grown up watching and helping fix mechanical things and using the lathe. He is the sort of kid you can rely on to do the job nad only seek help when he has a problem he has not experinced before.

What sort of work you will do much depends on the type of shop you start with.

Never forget as an employee you are a money making unit and the boss will place you to his best advantage.These days theres not a lot of broom pushing after the test you attitude.

Some kids believe menial tasks are below them and end up getting the flick due to their crappy attitude. Get over the broom pushing period and you will be ok and progress to better things quite rapidly.

cheers

The additional replies have jogged my memory a bit.

It's not only the broom pushing phase that needs to be endured (or similar tasks), we had one apprentice who actually quit after failing to be patient enough to file a block of steel flat and square! (He no doubt had other issues in his life)

Eye hand coordination is a must, also to slow down and think a task through before commencing said task is a good habit. I have seen so much time and material wasted by people rushing and making mistakes. And admitting mistakes and learning from them is another thing, don't kick them under the carpet!

Hey Fabricator,

Not knowing the circumstances, it sounds like the change in maths class has had a detrimental effect on your intended career. If you are capable of keeping up with the workload and pass or better then I would not take it laying down. I get the feeling that you know what you want to do and this doesn't happen to everyone so unless there is a real insurmountable barrier to doing it, fight for it.

cheers

Kevin

The area that you live in used to be very industrial,not sure how that has changed with down sizing of companies.
If you have the oppurtunity to be able to apply for an apprenticeship in your area or surrounds I would suggest to contact the larger employers.If they still train there apprentices as they use to you will be able to gain a wide variety of the different parts of the trade in both fitting & Machining.
With some of the smaller companies your ability to encompass a lot of different aspects of the trade under one roof may be limited.
You could also find the the larger companies might have a training scheme in play so as to introduce you to the Basics of the trade,as said earlier Fileing, Drilling ,Chieseling ,Marking out, use of Hacksaw,Centre Drilling ,Turning , Milling opperations,Use of Grinders, Drill & Tool Sharpening.
If you work for a smaller company this process could be slightly different.
Your rate of pay as an apprentice will usually be Industry standard with overtime and other conditional payments depending on the work.
The job can be boring at times but not usually,it can also be very dirty and hot and sometimes dangerous.
In regards to machine operation I would think basic machining to start for the first year,maybe Centre Lathe,Milling and Surface Grinding.Would think that once the Basics to machining were cover that in subsequent years the difficulty of the maching would increase with experience and training.Not to sure if you would like to be put on a horizontal or floor borer to early in your training and machining split gear box bearing journals or similar.
The larger machines I find are good to opperate but these will be usually found in larger companies doing there own production or maintanence work or smaller opperations speacilizing in certain things.
As said before never be afraid to say you made a mistake or dont know how to do something,and allways try and remember how the old blocks tell you to do something,you might have your own method but if its not working its good to be able to remember what they have said.
Also when it comes to the theory dont allways take it as the be all and end all,same as the practical theres usually allways more than one way to do the job.
I would also advise when you are old enough if not allready that you approach your employer about gaining a Forklift Licence as well as the Advance Rigging Ticket,allways an asset to have.
If you settle with an employer that dosent seem to cover the trade as you like I would suggest that once you become a Tradesman to maybe stay there a few years to gain as much knowledge as possable from then and then move on.
A lot when you start your trade inregards to learning skills will be dependant on your employer,you will only learn a limited amount of additional skills at TAFE.

am I miss-reading these posts

The Fabricator had chosen Boiler Maker for a career ??

Due to a situation at school with Maths or other He is now looking at Fitter Machinist

Yet he says his maths is

my maths is above average, engineering standard, i can do trig, equations, functions, all your machining maths im great at

I have seen many fellows go from both these jobs into Engineering

Why not look at a Cadetship with BHP (if they still do them) in Engineering

Is the problem at school been a punishment reprimand situation???
or is it academic??

Ray

fitting and machining is a very broad trade, you could end up as a maintenenace fitter, toolmaker, fluid power, cnc programmer or operator. I could probably answer all your questions but it would just be my point of view on what is a trade that covers a lot.
To give you an idea of my career path:
Started as a factory hand sweeping floors and the like, then somebody showed me how to weld, then somebody showed me how to use the lathe, then they made me an apprentice fitter.
I did my time, in a transport related industry mostly doing light fabrication and fluid power related stuff, some maintenance work on our fixed plant (pressbrake, guillo, punch and shear, etc etc when they needed a service or repair).
from there I went to a job where I was an on call maintenance fitter, initially for victoria, then it spread to vic, sa, wa, then i was transferred to HQ in brisbane and was responsible for vic, sa, wa, qld, nt, nsw, new zealand and fiji, for a short time (about 6 months). then a replacement for the southern states was employed so i was just nsw, qld, nt, nz and fiji. other stuff changed including me taking on everything again but it is long and complicated so i wont elaborate. the stuff I was maintaining ranged from simple machines with 1 cylinder and control valve to cnc related machines with multiple control circuits.
After 5 years of that (often alternate weeks of travel or back to back weeks of travel) i had some personal issues that ultimately cost me the job, so I moved on.
I now work as a salesman selling the machines in which I first started my trade working on/with.

In short, it is an excellent trade if you can land it and it isnt too hard if you have the right work ethic to be successful in it, you do have to have some mechanical aptitude and reasonable maths skills but sounds like you have both already. It has served me very well over the years. I would encourage anybody to take it up if they have an interest in mechanical things. My oldest boy wants to be a fitter, and I am not going to discourage him at all.

Originally Posted by wheelinround

am I miss-reading these posts

The Fabricator had chosen Boiler Maker for a career ??

Due to a situation at school with Maths or other He is now looking at Fitter Machinist

Yet he says his maths is


I have seen many fellows go from both these jobs into Engineering

Why not look at a Cadetship with BHP (if they still do them) in Engineering

Is the problem at school been a punishment reprimand situation???
or is it academic??

Ray

i chose engineering, my maths wasn't theoretically as good as i needed ( i can do it, but bummed out in one test so got kicked out)

the cadetships are a uni course anyway so its like engineering at uni, just with work. oh btw u need chemistry and i dont do that. the school problem is academic, im a good kid

Originally Posted by the fabricator

i chose engineering, my maths wasn't theoretically as good as i needed ( i can do it, but bummed out in one test so got kicked out)

the cadetships are a uni course anyway so its like engineering at uni, just with work. oh btw u need chemistry and i dont do that. the school problem is academic, im a good kid

Don't give up in the words of a good freind "It can be done"

BHP have dumped their cadetship type apprenticeships shame.

I too did an apprenticeship as a fitter and machinist. I started in Dec 1974 with the Newcastle State Dockyard (its was still going then but heading downhill) Back then most the NSW Gov places had apprentice training centres. Regardless of the union/employer relations at the time, the apprentice training centre did give a very good training.
I'd just started 3rd year when the Dockyard capsized and I was lucky enough to have my indentures transferred to the Electricity Commission of NSW. I worked there until 1988 mainly as a fitter rather than a machinist. Most of the work there was big, heavy, hot & dirty.
Having said all of the above, what I'm going to say now might upset some here. I hope not.

I wouldn’t recommend F&M or Boilermaking as a 1st choice if your maths is good enough to go into the electrical field (and providing you are not colourblind). Don’t get me wrong F&M and Boilermaking are good trades but,

A few things to consider.

1) What do you think you would like to be doing when you are 40, or 50 or 60?

Most of the fitters who are earning the big dollars are working for it. Around here (Hunter Valley NSW) those getting big dollars are either in the mines or associated industries (mining equip maint) where, by the very nature of the equip, most of the jobs are big & heavy and dirty. It’s really a young blokes game.
When you are 20 its all easy physically but once you hit 40 or 50 its not so easy. The problem with most blokes is they get financially locked into a trade area. Once they have a family and a mortgage its very hard, financially, to retrain. (been there)

2) To work for yourself doing machining has very high start up costs. ie at least 1 decent lathe + tooling, at least 1 decent mill + tooling, couple of grinders, drill press etc etc , rental on a shed to put it all in. easy to be heading north of $100k before you even start. (I know, you can set up cheaper than that, but you have to be competitive with the bloke around the corner so that means some decent gear)

Now compare that with the start up costs for say an eleco or plumber and also that the work of both these trades would normally be a lot easier physically. Also there will always be work for elecos’ and plumbers

Knowing what I know now, If I had my time again I would have studied maths a bit harder at school and gone into the electrical field or plumbing.

You can always learn how to machine for you own jobs/hobby whatever without doing the trade. I’d reckon there are more blokes who frequent this forum that don’t have formal F&M quals than those that do.

Have a think about it.

Whatever you end up doing, I hope you enjoy it. Looking back, whilst I have had some unpleasant jobs and lots of boring repetitive ones, I can’t think of any that I really hated doing.

Regards
Bollie7