Explore by Career/Production
Etchers and Engravers
Engrave or etch metal, wood, rubber, or other materials. Includes such workers as etcher-circuit processors, pantograph engravers, and silk screen etchers.
- Median pay
- $40,450
- per year
- 10-year outlook
- -0.7%
- Declining
- Typical entry
- High school diploma or equivalent
Key skills
- Reading Comprehension
- Monitoring
- Operations Monitoring
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Critical Thinking
- Operation and Control
- Quality Control Analysis
What they do
- Inspect etched work for depth of etching, uniformity, and defects, using calibrated microscopes, gauges, fingers, or magnifying lenses.
- Examine sketches, diagrams, samples, blueprints, or photographs to decide how designs are to be etched, cut, or engraved onto workpieces.
- Clean and polish engraved areas.
- Prepare workpieces for etching or engraving by cutting, sanding, cleaning, polishing, or treating them with wax, acid resist, lime, etching powder, or light-sensitive enamel.
- Engrave and print patterns, designs, etchings, trademarks, or lettering onto flat or curved surfaces of a wide variety of metal, glass, plastic, or paper items, using hand tools or hand-held power tools.
- Prepare etching chemicals according to formulas, diluting acid with water to obtain solutions of specified concentration.
- Use computer software to design patterns for engraving.
- Expose workpieces to acid to develop etch patterns such as designs, lettering, or figures.
- Adjust depths and sizes of cuts by adjusting heights of worktables, or by adjusting machine-arm gauges.
- Measure and compute dimensions of lettering, designs, or patterns to be engraved.
Majors that lead here
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS, Employment Projections) and O*NET, used under CC BY 4.0.