toolmaker

[oilcooled :)]

just doing the leaving now and apprenticeships have come up in the area for tool making, could somebody tell me if this is hands on work or is a
it all computer work, also is there any welding in tool making?. also applied for mechanical enginerring?

 

[rory1]

a tool maker is another name for a machinist. tool makers generally make dies, moulds, stamps etc. most toolmaking shops will require a bit of welding done, big shops will have a welder in the shop but most tool rooms will put welding jobs out to contractors

hope this helps

 

[gavuk]

Toolmaking is really machining, mills and lathes,most likely not cnc ,batch type work ,usually short run and one-offs .Not really welding although depending where you get a job could do almost anything ....still a good trade in my opinion .hope this help Gav

 

[rory1]

the running joke is welders and fitters work in thousands of inches whilst toolmakers work to thousandths of an inch!

 

[gordon stephenson]

Engineers work to 1/2 a thou,joiners work to 1/2 inch builders work to 1/2 a brick !!

 

[Phil@mpliron]

Hi Oilcooled

Toolmaking is still a good career, even though the current climate is a bit bleak, some of my old customers have started to bring their work back to the uk

BUT expect to be sent for "tapped holes" and "orange sparks" etc.

I started my apprentiship about 22yrs ago and worked my way up from the bench to running a subcontract toolroom with 30 men turning over about 3.3mill/yr, making press tools mainly for the automotive industry.

All our tools are design in 3D by subcontract designers.
The majority of machining was done by cnc milling and wire eroding.
Tool makers where also expected to work manual machines, such as milling machines, lathe, surface grinder, radial drill, pedestal drill and general hand tools, but their main role is making the tool which is mainly assembly, understanding how the tool works, developing the component, trying the tool out rectifying any issues at buy-off.

The work is to thou's - well it is at my age

Welding is occasionally required, for us it was usually on repairs and modifications and was somtimes arc & mig but mainly tig using hard rods as it was repairing damaged tool steel hardened to 58-60 Rockwell (always pre-heated)
Small welding jobs where done in house by me, anything else was sent to a specailist welder - ABR in west bromwich, the guy is top notch the laser welding he did for me was awesome


this is a picture of a press tool we made (sorry about the colour), a seven stage progression, the component is part of a seat mounting assembly for Ford (think it was focus).

The tool was originally shipped to barcelona to be run with about 12 others, that was a great week we had commisioning those, in a factory with no air con in the middle of August.

Regards
Phil

 

[oilcooled :)]

thanks well its toolmaking or mechanical engineer in the colloege which i applied for also, id prob prefer the engineering but with times being bad it would be nice to have a wage at the end of the week, and the paddy irish cud have college fees in a shot, would there be more welding in mech engineering?

 

[rory1]

mechanical engineering is a broad term. when i did my apprenticeship about ten years ago, all of the boys in my year were all mechanical engineering students but we all came from different jobs. there were toolmakers, fitters (like myself), sheet metal workers and even the electricians (spit on the floor) did a few modules with us. we all did a few welding, machining, maintainence and hydraulic/pneumatic modules in our first year, (which was full time in college) to give a good basic grounding in engineering principles before going off to work proper.
you need to find out what industry the mech eng job is in. and what tasks you will be expected to carry out.

during my apprentiship i did a little on the weld/fab side but now i do a reasonable amount due to a rapidly shrinking workforce.

some works will not allow a fitter to pick up a welding torch or a multimeter but other places want you to be able to do every thing. it depends upon the company.

hope this helps
rory