Talk:Machinist

Tolerances and metrics

I clarified the tolerance data a bit. The idea is that machinists typically work in tolerance ranges of .010" or less and that the most common way to express that range is +/-.005". On the metric side of things, my experience has been that for typical machining requirements only two decimal places are used so that .127mm would be expressed as .13mm unless there was some compelling engineering requirement to show the 3rd place. I would welcome correction if this is not the trade practice in the metric world.

Role of the machinist in manufacturing

I think that this section is still a little muddled. I think that perhaps a discussion of the various roles, production, setup, and planning could be more tightly organized. I also think that the transformation of the trade by the arrival of CNC machines should be extracted and presented in its own subtopic.

Machinist and naturalist sound antonymous, but in fact are not: John Muir was both.

I'm tempted to include that in the article proper, but I don't think it would really add anything.--Joel 04:36, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Awkward wording

I have continued to make modest edit clarifying the focus and adjusting some of the language to be more precise. I'd like someone who actually works as a machinist in a metric country to change the inch stuff to be in the () and make the metric information the default. I am hesitant to just do the math as a direct conversion may not reflect actual practice. The world is metric. The U.S. should be but is not completely. Begs 23:53, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

I am a bit worried about the second sentence: Other terms for machinist include fitter, turner if they have their trade papers, tool and die maker if they specialize in making the tools for production or a process worker if they operate a production machine (cnc). Is it supposed to mean that someone is only a turner if they have trade papers (and so on)? (Incidentally, what are trade papers? Is this a term from a particular country or period, or is it something internationally-known?) If it retains the right meaning, I think this is a case for either semicolons instead of commans, or splitting the sentence up. I don't know what it's supposed to mean, so I can't do it. Telsa (talk) 15:48, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

I agreed that there was some awkard wording. I got started and it gained momentum. I am still concerned with some issues that I left. If what I did is generally considered an advance. I will come back and do a clean up and some reoganization. I think that some of the awkwardness may arise from folks being from various parts of the world. For example, fitter is not a likely job title in USA nor is tool setter for that matter. A tool setter as it was used in the article would more likely be 'setup man' in the USA, not politically correct but accurate. I will have to learn more of the formatting stuff to clean up what I did. I don't want to bother if it just gets reverted. Begs 10:07, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

Well, I stayed at it and cleaned up some of my stuff but it needs more work. I'm done for now. Having read some more and some of the other people's profiles, I'm more convinced than ever that the "awkwardness" arises from being in different parts of the world. Maybe we should work out a job titles table. Have the equivalent titles and a job description listed to show the meaning of the titles. For example:

Machinist related titles and descriptions

Titles	Descriptions
Tool setter, setup man	Person who changes over a machine tool setup or adjusts an existing setup

Begs 11:36, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

I replaced "three-view-orthographic drawings" with engineering drawing to match the existing entry in the WP. Begs 05:04, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Begs, I think you're not one of the great writers of the world - what machinist is? I think it's a pretty good job of presenting an overview, though. I may fiddle with it some, too, grammar and links and such. I think it's a good start, though. Just a little slap on the back - Wikipedia could use more of that......Jjdon (talk) 21:07, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

Job Specialities within Machinist

I do not believe that the job role of "Fitter" belongs here as a subset of Machinist. In Australia a common basic metal trade is "Fitter and Machinist" which includes both types of skills. From this you can then specialise into some of the roles listed in the article, but a Fitter does not use machine tools such as lathes, milling machines or grinders. Their role only requires the use of hand tools and portable power tools such as drills, rattle guns etc. Is this just Australia? PaullMF (talk) 02:47, 21 September 2012 (UTC)

'Fitter' redirects here. I'm not sure this is correct. In British English anyway, the job of a fitter isn't particularly associated with machine tool work. The commonest use of the term is probably 'gas fitter', a semiskilled gas engineer who installs and maintains appliances. It denotes a lower level of expertise and qualification than an engineer or skilled machinist. --Ef80 (talk) 15:28, 31 December 2018 (UTC)

"Fitter and Turner"

As far as I know, the section on Australian's referring to machinists as fitters and turners is inaccurate, my father is a machinist by trade down here, and he is very specific about not being a fitter and turner. I'm pretty certain, considering the breadth of skills he was trained in during his time at trade school and subsequent apprenticeship, that machinists are considered a separate role in Australia, having far more to do with understanding how to and implementing the manufacturing of tools and parts as opposed directly producing them. This is anecdotal of course and I welcome any further comment. 49.255.6.38 (talk) 04:52, 22 June 2022 (UTC)

Reads like an advertisement

This article reads like an advertisement for the machine trade with quotes like "A competent machinist should have a well-developed mechanical aptitude, the ability to correctly use precision measuring instruments, interpret blueprints, and a working knowledge of the proper parameters required for successfully utilizing the various tools commonly used in machining operations" and "Good machinists are highly sought after and respected skilled trades persons and are generally well-paid. In utility, medical, and military use companies, experienced machinists can earn over $100,000 per year." These should probably be removed. 216.165.95.165 (talk) 00:45, 3 September 2023 (UTC)