Explore by Career/Production
Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners
Perform precision smoothing, sharpening, polishing, or grinding of metal objects.
- Median pay
- $48,970
- per year
- 10-year outlook
- -7.8%
- Declining
- Typical entry
- High school diploma or equivalent
Key skills
- Operations Monitoring
- Operation and Control
- Quality Control Analysis
- Equipment Maintenance
- Repairing
- Critical Thinking
- Monitoring
- Equipment Selection
What they do
- Monitor machine operations to determine whether adjustments are necessary, stopping machines when problems occur.
- Inspect, feel, and measure workpieces to ensure that surfaces and dimensions meet specifications.
- Study blueprints or layouts of metal workpieces to determine grinding procedures, and to plan machine setups and operational sequences.
- Select and mount grinding wheels on machines, according to specifications, using hand tools and applying knowledge of abrasives and grinding procedures.
- Compute numbers, widths, and angles of cutting tools, micrometers, scales, and gauges, and adjust tools to produce specified cuts.
- Turn valves to direct flow of coolant against cutting wheels and workpieces during grinding.
- Set up and operate grinding or polishing machines to grind metal workpieces, such as dies, parts, and tools.
- Dress grinding wheels, according to specifications.
- File or finish surfaces of workpieces, using prescribed hand tools.
- Perform basic maintenance, such as cleaning and lubricating machine parts.
Majors that lead here
No mapped majors yet.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS, Employment Projections) and O*NET, used under CC BY 4.0.