How much does an average machinist make?

[machineman66]

27.00 per hr. here in Bend OR

[DALACHEAX1]

I do the bids,Process design,Programming,50% of the setup,50% of the machining and 100% 1st article inspection at a Prototype Engineering firm in Huntsville,Alabama. I make around $67,000. annually working around 45 hours a week.
For the South this is decent pay, although like most,at times I feel underpaid! But as to what JT said, most large companies are headed toward lean manufaturing,which requires less skill and more will.After being in this industry for 20 plus years I know exactly how he feels.I have engineers asking for my advice on a daily basis concerning the processes that will and wont work for their applications,but when I asked for an annual salary I was told that the duties I perform arent generally a salaried position.Process Designers,Programmers and quality Managers are all salaried positions and the majority of the work I perform is in this area.
But I dont have a Engineering Degree so I guess I'll never be On Salary!

[Jhutch]

If you think it is hard for guys to make a decent living any more as as CNC Machinist...try being a female in this business.

BTW - If anyone is looking for a highly qualified CNC Machinist with almost 20 years of experience I am looking for a new job. I can relocate if necessary for the right pay and location. Some place warm where wages stay up with the cost of living would be nice.

Don't be so hard on yourself... being a woman isn't a handicap unless you allow it handicap you.

[elsanch]

I don't know much about lathes and mills,..but I know here in southern california, i have been around a few shops running swiss screw machines (7-11 axis; Star, Tsugamis, Citizen, Tornos Bechler/Decco, Miyano) wages for an operator i have found to be starting at 10-12,...set-up peeps from 15-20,..then the leadmen/cell leaders from 20 and up. I have been in the swiss indutry for about 10 years, and boy is it hard to find people....i think employers should offer tests before hiring. everyone wants the 20 something an hour but yet they can't differentiate between incremental or absolute.

right now im at $28 an hour (southern ca) as a lead on swing shift for a company that is just getting its foot in the door as far as swiss is concerned.

but i do see a problem with supervisors/foreman not realizing the abilties of everyone on the shop

[maz43]

I was making 25+ with 5 weeks vacation, 401k, insurance and stock options.
Then the layoffs began. Here in Detroit we have the highest unemployment in the country. It is very bad for the machinists around here.
Operator wages went from 15-18 to 7-9 per hr.
Programmers were always 20+, now you are lucky to find a program/setup job for 15-16 hr.
After getting laid off of my job for 24 years I found out how tough the market is around here.
I am back to work doing custom and proto work milling and turning with CNC.
I am making considerably less than I was but at least I wont lose my house.
I will be back in the 20/hr range soon enough hopefully.

[Bowman]

Wow only 7-9 dollars for an operator? We pay people with no skills and no education at all $9 an hour just to put bottles into boxes as they come down the fill line.

I have come to the conclusion that I will just move off the grid here soon if everything goes south for me. Screw the Feds, screw the State, Screw the CEOs and all that crap. Looking better and better by the day.

At the end of the day all we are working for is shelter and food. IMO I just a soon only worry about killing or catching dinner each day as about getting to and from a job in a congested city to make crap money and then hand 1/2 of it over to crap politicians for nothing. When in the end all I am trying to get is something to eat and a place to sleep. Something tells me I don't need politicians to accomplish that as they have never proved useful in my 38 years to date.

Sorry to hear things are so bad in Detroit to bad you can't move without losing so much but really how long can you afford to stay at that rate? I see real estate in that area is virtually worthless.

Notice the trend with these big cities run by liberals? They are all going down the tubes and turning into trash dumps. Coincidence? I think not.

[maz43]

Notice the trend with these big cities run by liberals? They are all going down the tubes and turning into trash dumps. Coincidence? I think not.

I agree. Now the whole country is run by them. This will be nation wide.
Add the cap and trade racket, 25 percent sales tax, and socialism for all.
You think the machining business was tough, just wait until the lib greenies legislate it into oblivion. We might as well teach Mandarin Chinese in our trade schools.
The Chicago mob style current administration will make sure my hard work is rewarded by taking my earnings and giving it to crackheads and gubermint dependent types, not to mention bank and business "bailouts".
It is ironic how our government takes my tax dollars and gives it to banks so they can refuse to loan it back to me.
What ever happened to the taxation without representation clause in the Constitution?
I'm stuck here in the unemployment capitol because I bought a house and owe over twice what it is worth. The value has lost 60 percent in the last 5 years.
I am making just enough to pay off my worthless house and not starve.
Cap and trade and progressive taxes will ensure I won't be treading water for long.
At least I am doing what I enjoy-working with CNC and manual machine tools.

[John Holmes]

If anyone is tired of not making any money machining or programming come to Houston Texas. If you are good, you will not be disappointed. I came down here three years ago and it was one of the best things I have ever done.

[aaron p]

If anyone is tired of not making any money machining or programming come to Houston Texas. If you are good, you will not be disappointed. I came down here three years ago and it was one of the best things I have ever done.

Im here in Houston also. Who do you work for? Im working 5axis machines for Baker Hughes. Fixing to start on my 2 year Engineering degree.

[John Holmes]

I am a programmer for a valve company. Lathes and mills.

[3TDY1]

I moved a KIA Turn 15Lms in my shop. I power it up, home Z & X axis . B axis will not move.Could please help? Thanks, Larry.

[dudesmpd]

apparently maz43 smoked a lot of pot because he lost his long term memory
the current economic crisis wasnt created in the last 6 months by the"liberal"government we just elected.this problem was created by the last administration and the policies they enacted.he blames this administration for his house losing its value over the last 6 years?That would be the "conservative"morons he elected that destroyed the economy.

[maz43]

That would be the "conservative"morons he elected that destroyed the economy.

The downfall here in Detroit started with the signing of Nafta.
That was under Bubba's watch.
Our liberal tax happy governor drove many businesses out of the state in the last 8 years.
Things were ok here under GW's watch- until the progressives took over congress.
Obama is and his administration are poisin to a capitalist system and will destroy what is left of our economy.
By the name calling and accusation of drug abuse it would seem you are a liberal.
You blame GW for everything.........
Who's the Moron ?

[ZipSnipe]

dudesmpd and maz43, I hate to tell you guys this but you both are right! And capitalists are the poison to capitalist system. Liberals and conservatives are poisonous ingredients and are both to blame.
Ask yourself why are all these C.E.O.'s bankrupting their companies and making off with hundreds of millions when they're already pretty wealthy?

Here's the answer: Becuz they know eventually our society is going collapse and the only ones that will make it are the ones who have it all. Thats why our economy is hurting becuz were all just lil' minnows, and about 5-7 years ago a minority of minnows got fat and the past two years the big fish decided to get extra greedy and gobbled up the economy!

Oh yeah by the way down here in Daytona a machinist wages range from $7.50 to $22.50

[dudesmpd]

NAFTA was signed by U.S. President George H.W. Bush, Mexican President Salinas, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in 1992.you have zero facts right and a whacked agenda-typical right winger

[tobyaxis]

Wages largely depend on the products being made, the demand, and your location. Not to mention how much experience you have.

[maz43]

you have zero facts right and a whacked agenda-typical right winger.

In reality, NAFTA was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on December 8, 1993 and entered force January 1,1994. Although it was started by President Bush, it was a priority of President Clinton's, and its passage is considered one of his first successes.

FYI- I'm a libertarian and definitely not right or left.

-End of thread hijack-

[Biggles]

From South Africa....

I'm a qualified engineer turned do it all after building my own CNC machine, I'm in the throws of building another. I've had to become chief cook and bottle washer as the State has legislated I'm the wrong color to be employed. Our government literally places a value on your color of skin and your sex. Literally white males have no value and neither do white females. Colored people and asian or indians are worth 1 point each. A black male is worth 2 points and a black female worth 4. So if your point system per your salary role is wrong, your business pays heavy fines. We have the highest tax rates on our salaries and the property we own. So running and starting businesses in the New South Africa is exactly the same as the old racist one.

It's become very doggy does dog for survival so I've opted down the work for myself option instead of making some useless prat a lot of money and taking home scraps because I'm worth nothing on the Social Labor Plan. So far things work out well and I can easily charge $30 to $40 an hour. This is the advantage of making a living under a government that drives skills and knowledge out of the country.

The good news is that since the ANC government has trashed our education system, I've home schooled my kids on a brilliant system from the good ol' USA and my kids have been reading since age four each and doing addition, subraction and multiplication before 5 years. I love America. The average wannabe in a government school here is battling to spell properly at the age of 9.

Thanks to all you guys from the USA.

[handlewanker]

Hi Biggles, I deeply sympathise with you sport, but look at it this way, how do you think they felt before the "one man one vote" got into legislation?

I spent my younger days there, from 1948 to 1968, and in '68 I saw the beginning of the writing on the wall when Mandela was on Robben Island.

You have to see it from "their" (the ruling party now) point of view, and consider that what you have now is just a minute percent of what they had and are trying to get.

The bladdy whites treated the poor kaffirs like dirt for so many years, that now the boot is on the other foot, how can you not wear it, even if it's a bit uncomfortable, it's their country after all.

I decided not to get rooted by the coming storm, and so I emigrated back to the land of my birth and subsequently down to OZ.

BTW, while you're doing OK with a bit of work on the side, I would definately recommend putting something away for your retirement, somewhere, anywhere, not there, otherwise you'll be like a lot of people I know who left there in the last few years, no homes, no income, no future.

You have to realise that in "their" eyes you are just white rubbish, who exploited them for so many years.

I've been back a couple of times visiting friends and family since 2005, and the changes are as to be expected with a newly "unrepressed majority" government.

"They" can do what they want, and to whom they want, also when they want, and if "they" decide you don't own your property, what you gonna do 'bout it?
Ian.

[Biggles]

Unfortunately I'm not really old enough to have lived through the past, I'm only 35, I grew up in Natal but in a very liberal family.

About 6 years ago I went to manage a mine for a Group called Micronized. They a little mine tucked away in the low veld. When I got there I found they'd forced all their labor to live in mud huts that had been constructed form rocks, sticks and scrap corrugated plates. I vowed to work hard and over the next four years I managed to build several new houses and supply electricity for my laborers. When it came to supplying proper water to the homes and toilets, it was just not on the agenda of the main shareholders. My salary included a profit share which meant that as thing turned for the good, they bought two aircraft and tried to cut into my profit share to do it.

I could list a ton of discrepancies of how they cheated on their Tax, conned the work force into accepting lower salary increments, forced the management to take lower increases etc. I eventually voted with my feet. While I fought hard to get things right and the work force referred to me as their father, I had to look after my own family.

Two years later some of my laborers still phone me weekly just to see how my family and I are doing. The relationship I had with them means that SA does not have to be skin color dependent. This country could work, but if the USA politicians are willing to sacrifice their own people's livelihood and futures to the Great Chinese Industrial Machine so that they can line their own pockets. I'd hate to know what the bunch of banana's in our government will do next.

I would love to emigrate as I get the understanding I would rather be an "Alien" in another country and treated as such than be "White Trash" in my own country and not even have basic human rights.

It's for this reason that I've taken my CNC machine and the new machine designs I'm working on to the highest possible level. There's a huge economic advantage in driving down the cost of a machine while improving its efficiencies. I tremor to see what the Yanks pay for their machines. It seems criminal. The software is also heavily priced too. Ultimately the waste is at the human stage anyway. I've been playing with Google Sketchup and a plugin called PhlatscripT to do sheet work. At the end I have G-Code for my machine. I use Mach 3 to push my CNC around which means with a little VB scripting and my own custom screen sets, I can cut any shape I want.

It's become very effective to cut mortise and tenon joints. Although my first machine is best suited for plastic/wood, I'm modifying the gear train to increase the speed for flame cutting. The bed is highly modifiable allowing me to change from a water bed to a wood MDF base to an open area where I can fit a lathe in or attach a wire cutting bow for foam cutting.

The new gear train increases my units/min from 1800mm/min to 10000mm/min so I'll loose a little on the resolution, but cutting thinner than 20mm plate will be much better. South African labor still costs $2/hour approx and artisan $4/hour, but when comparing value produced for $ paid, South Africans are still twice the price of USA, eight times the price of some European countries and twenty times the price of Japanese. Our people are that lazy, and I'm talking irrespective of color. So a CNC machine is very competitive.

In terms of the future, as you say, I want to move off the African island. The governments have a history of seizing property and companies at will. On the lighter side our new president found the cure for AIDS....after sleeping with an infected person you take a shower. ha ha.