How common is it for a machinist (by trade) to not know how to thread on a lathe?

Bob La Londe said:
I suspect a job shop that does one off custom jobs, repairs, and things of that nature would quite likely benefit from having a manual lathe or two with guys who know how to use them, but a shop that only does production runs may not.
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My son has a part time job in a shop like that. They do no production work at all. What they do is custom fabrication, prototypes, machine repair or anything else that walks in the door that isn't a production
job. They have CNC machines and use them if needed, but the majority of their work is on manual machines. Their boss is both an engineer and a machinist, so can provide design advice as well. The range of
skills and the wide variety of work they produce is amazing: they produce large welded assemblies and tiny parts for surgeons. Those guys are machinists!
 
After 25 years in retail management, I grew weary. I quit, and decided to do something completely different. I took a year of machining at a community college, manual & CNC. I also bought a lathe. In order to get my certificate, I had to work in the trade for at least a short period of time. I'm currently 3 months into a job as a CNC operator / set up guy.
My co-workers know far more than I about running the machines, devising work holding solutions, and solving finish problems. I know how, at a beginning / intermediate level, to run a manual lathe and mill, single point threads are a piece of cake, though I haven't yet done tapered threads. I don't think any of my coworkers have any idea how to do such a thing, but they are certainly more skilled at their jobs, than I am.
 
If you didn't go through years of apprenticeship your NO MACHINIST. Those of us who worked our way into being a machinist/ tool + die maker. We earned it and the respect it deserves , college graduates expect it . We earned it. So if your a CNC operator don't class your self as a machinist. It's earned not plug into. You may no computer operations but don't say your a machinist. I'm proud of the years I spent earning mine.
 
Silverbullet said:
If you didn't go through years of apprenticeship your NO MACHINIST. Those of us who worked our way into being a machinist/ tool + die maker. We earned it and the respect it deserves , college graduates expect it . We earned it. So if your a CNC operator don't class your self as a machinist. It's earned not plug into. You may no computer operations but don't say your a machinist. I'm proud of the years I spent earning mine.
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So you are saying you demand respect for your knowledge and skills, but refuse to give it for different knowledge and skills that can produce the same or superior parts because you learned how to do it by being spoon fed knowledge over the course of decades? Ok. I recognized that you think your are superior, and I disagree.

If you want to know what I would consider a machinist if I was to take such a superior attitude. It would be the person who is capable of going from concept to finished functional part with the skills, knowledge, and equipment that they have available. Perhaps is smart enough to ask for help if they really need it, and figure it out for themselves if they don't. No more. No less.

However, I am not taking such a superior attitude and recognize that skills learned through repetition and personal tutelage over the course of years also have value.
 
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A couple of people said it best here. They are DIFFERENT skill sets. A machinist can run any machine in the shop. Lathe, mill (vertical and horizontal), surface grinder,drill press, ect. His is a dying job. The CNC machine requires a machine operator and a programmer (which can be the same person). They are not machinists, but they are a CNC operator and/or programmer. That is their title and skill set, which is different than a machinist. The CNC job does not require a 2 or 4 year apprenticeship. It requires a class and some training. Most machinists can't do CNC. They should each be proud of their title and skill, but they are not the same. One is a machinist, which has different levels (apprenticeship, jorneyman, Master. The other is a CNC operator and/ or programmer. The modern world needs CNC specialists, but not so many machinists. It is kind of like the old fashion draftsman and CAD drafter. They are not the same but the end result is the same. ( Oh crap.... That may start another argument.) It is called Progress.
 
LOL. Oh, but that's not what was said. They said if you didn't serve years as an apprentice you are not a machinist. That equates to saying (among other things) those who learned it on their own or partially from are inferior and are not and can never be called machinists. This would include some of the people they apprenticed under. LOL.

I also refuse recognize that a CNC machinist is not a machinist.
 
Lets all take a deep breath and step back from this. Come back tomorrow and look how it appears.

Nuf Said. And I'm a Tool Maker.
 
Bob La Londe said:
So you are saying you demand respect for your knowledge and skills, but refuse to give it for different knowledge and skills that can produce the same or superior parts because you learned how to do it by being spoon fed knowledge over the course of decades? Ok. I recognized that you think your are superior, and I disagree.

If you want to know what I would consider a machinist if I was to take such a superior attitude. It would be the person who is capable of going from concept to finished functional part with the skills, knowledge, and equipment that they have available. Perhaps is smart enough to ask for help if they really need it, and figure it out for themselves if they don't. No more. No less.

However, I am not taking such a superior attitude and recognize that skills learned through repetition and personal tutelage over the course of years also have value.
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Kind of a snoty reply , I've always offered free help to anyone . Have you ,, I've worked with individuals with disabilities yet have high learning capabilities. I'm no better then another , but I guess you are , with your knowledge you don't need ours I guess. If a person earns a degree he's earned masters degree. If you go to school for four years and nite school for two more , and have to work at the job you chose then you earned it . If your a CNC operator you earned it. But as for being superior nope neither you nor I am superior. The best knowledge is given mostly by watching and learning then asking.
 
Snotty reply to a snotty attitude.

Rest of reply deleted as you wouldn't get it anyway.
 
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