Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing
Set up, operate, or tend woodworking machines, such as drill presses, lathes, shapers, routers, sanders, planers, and wood nailing machines. May operate computer numerically controlled (CNC) equipment.
What it pays
Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing earn a median of $20.86/hr — about $43,500 a year. The lowest-paid 10% earn $15.44/hr; the top 10% earn $27.32/hr. (Annual figures are approximate: hourly × 2,080.)
Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing earn a median of $20.86/hr — about $43,500 a year. The lowest-paid 10% earn $15.44/hr; the top 10% earn $27.32/hr. (Annual figures are approximate: hourly × 2,080.)
What you'd actually do
- Set up, program, operate, or tend computerized or manual woodworking machines, such as drill presses, lathes, shapers, routers, sanders, planers, or wood-nailing machines.
- Examine finished workpieces for smoothness, shape, angle, depth-of-cut, or conformity to specifications and verify dimensions, visually and using hands, rules, calipers, templates, or gauges.
- Start machines, adjust controls, and make trial cuts to ensure that machinery is operating properly.
- Monitor operation of machines and make adjustments to correct problems and ensure conformance to specifications.
- Examine raw woodstock for defects and to ensure conformity to size and other specification standards.
- Adjust machine tables or cutting devices and set controls on machines to produce specified cuts or operations.
How you get there
Typical entry-level education: High school diploma. Overall preparation: some preparation (Job Zone 2 of 5).
The feel of the work
Much of the day is spent working solo. (Compared against the other 818 careers in the guide.)
Working for yourself
About 0% of woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing are self-employed.
Who it tends to fit
This work tends to fit people who are hands-on and organized and detail-focused.
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Quick questions
- How much does a woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing make?
- The median pay is $20.86 per hour — roughly $43,500 a year, with the real range running from about $15.44/hr (10th percentile) to $27.32/hr (90th percentile). Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- Do you need a degree to be a woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing?
- The typical entry-level education is: High school diploma. Overall preparation level: some preparation (Job Zone 2 of 5).
- What does a woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing actually do all day?
- Set up, program, operate, or tend computerized or manual woodworking machines, such as drill presses, lathes, shapers, routers, sanders, planers, or wood-nailing machines. Examine finished workpieces for smoothness, shape, angle, depth-of-cut, or conformity to specifications and verify dimensions, visually and using hands, rules, calipers, templates, or gauges. Start machines, adjust controls, and make trial cuts to ensure that machinery is operating properly.
Wages: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS. Tasks & interests: O*NET. Career pathways shown in the app are draft archetypes — verify before relying on them. Trailhead is a free career guide for students — honest numbers, no hype.
Trailhead is operated by FLEXVermont LLC. It is intended for high-school students age 13 and older, and the educators and families who support them, and is not directed to children under 13. Trailhead is provided for general informational and educational purposes only. It does not offer professional, financial, or career advice, and its wage figures and pathways are estimates that may not fit your situation — they should not be relied on as the sole basis for any decision.
Trailhead is operated by FLEXVermont LLC. It is intended for high-school students age 13 and older, and the educators and families who support them, and is not directed to children under 13. Trailhead is provided for general informational and educational purposes only. It does not offer professional, financial, or career advice, and its wage figures and pathways are estimates that may not fit your situation — they should not be relied on as the sole basis for any decision.