Machining Essay, Research Paper

I love making things with my hands so an obvious choice for occupation would be

some form of engineering. Working with metal also interests me so I herd of precision

machining from a person from Mid Florida Tech school that told me what it was and thats

about it. Machining involves taking a raw piece of metal and boring, drilling, milling,

grinding, and turning until you end up with a desired product. Also, these parts are to

exact specifications of the blueprints. Precise measurements are taken to ensure correct

manufacturing.

I already knew quite a bit about this because this is one of my interests. I would

like to know more before I choose to spend my time an money on the education to do this

line of work. My first obvious question would be how much they make. Money is

important to me so I feel it?s nessesary to know up front what you will get. Something

that goes hand and hand with money is work hours. Time is money so that is equally

important. I can work with computers well so I would like o know how technology plays

a roll in machining. These are all question I hope to find answers to in my quest for

knowledge on this career.

This research is being done to answer my questions so I can be as prepared as

possible to do this for a living. I feel that if I know all about it there won?t be any

surprises or disappointments later on.

y research begins with a long and drawn out trip to the Winter Park High School

library and computer lab. I am very experienced online so this did not pose much of a

challenge to me. We started out using a website called ?Bridges? that helped people get

information about different careers and job orientated information. I found the bulk of my

information here on precision machining. This gave me information but not really any

examples of it or pictures of this trade. Nest, I went to Lockheed Martin?s website and

looked at experimental aircraft and weapons. I hound that most experimental projects

involved new parts never made before, thats where the machinist comes in. Next, I visited

the university of Arizona?s website were they held a contest to see who could build the

best working practical machine. They designed and built some kinds of experimental

projects. There were things that fly and things that drill and things that swim. I noticed

that most everything was made from scratch. So no store-bought parts were used. That

means that the parts were all manufactured. At this website I also came across many job

opportunities as technicians and service consultants in the custom fabrication field.There

were quite a few companies that were local that supplied pieces and parts to airplane

builders and mechanics. Some machines are so expensive that the parts must be custom

made. All this translates into a good outlook for this type of work in the future. Insuring

job security is also something good that a machinist can look forward to. Most of my

answers to my question cam form the web site from Arizona?s university. Machinists

make from sixteen to twenty-three dollars an hour and higher with experience. Starting

right out of collage you can expect to make on average of about eight-teen dollars an

hour. Hours are like any other job, nine to five unless you have extra work to make up.

You go to collage for a minimum of one year attending a vocational school like mid

Florida Tech. Technology plays a huge role in this field in that all the robots are computer

controlled and operated my people. People still tell he computers what to do but he

steady arm of a robot is helpful when quality is of the essence.

After all this research I have come to some conclusions. I am very interested in

precision machining. I am looking for more money than precision machining can offer.

There are careers like mechanical engineering that offer more money for less hours. I will

have to research that new career next. I think it is important to be happy with what you

do. I will do some thinking as to what my priorities are in the future. I really do think I

might seriously consider precision machining as a career.