# 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.

- Code: 51-7042.00 (O*NET-SOC; SOC 2018 51-7042)
- Family: [Production](https://foundation.org.ai/occupations#family-51), one of its 114 occupations
- Tasks: 25 tasks (20 core and 5 supplemental)
- Page: https://foundation.org.ai/occupations/51-7042.00
- JSON: https://foundation.org.ai/data/tasks/51-7042.00.json

## What the work is made of

1. Set up, program, operate, or tend computerized or manual woodworking machines, such as drill presses, lathes, shapers, routers, sanders, planers, or wood-nailing machines.  
   Core task · Task 12279 · Rated by 88 people who do the job, July 2015
2. 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.  
   Core task · Task 12281 · Rated by 89 people who do the job, July 2015
3. Start machines, adjust controls, and make trial cuts to ensure that machinery is operating properly.  
   Core task · Task 12274 · Rated by 91 people who do the job, July 2015
4. Monitor operation of machines and make adjustments to correct problems and ensure conformance to specifications.  
   Core task · Task 12278 · Rated by 90 people who do the job, July 2015
5. Examine raw woodstock for defects and to ensure conformity to size and other specification standards.  
   Core task · Task 12291 · Rated by 87 people who do the job, July 2015
6. Adjust machine tables or cutting devices and set controls on machines to produce specified cuts or operations.  
   Core task · Task 12277 · Rated by 88 people who do the job, July 2015
7. Install and adjust blades, cutterheads, boring-bits, or sanding-belts, using hand tools and rules.  
   Core task · Task 12282 · Rated by 90 people who do the job, July 2015
8. Change alignment and adjustment of sanding, cutting, or boring machine guides to prevent defects in finished products, using hand tools.  
   Core task · Task 12285 · Rated by 88 people who do the job, July 2015
9. Determine product specifications and materials, work methods, and machine setup requirements, according to blueprints, oral or written instructions, drawings, or work orders.  
   Core task · Task 12275 · Rated by 88 people who do the job, July 2015
10. Feed stock through feed mechanisms or conveyors into planing, shaping, boring, mortising, or sanding machines to produce desired components.  
   Core task · Task 12276 · Rated by 90 people who do the job, July 2015
11. Push or hold workpieces against, under, or through cutting, boring, or shaping mechanisms.  
   Core task · Task 12284 · Rated by 86 people who do the job, July 2015
12. Select knives, saws, blades, cutter heads, cams, bits, or belts, according to workpiece, machine functions, or product specifications.  
   Core task · Task 12280 · Rated by 88 people who do the job, July 2015
13. Remove and replace worn parts, bits, belts, sandpaper, or shaping tools.  
   Core task · Task 12287 · Rated by 90 people who do the job, July 2015
14. Secure woodstock against a guide or in a holding device, place woodstock on a conveyor, or dump woodstock in a hopper to feed woodstock into machines.  
   Core task · Task 12288 · Rated by 91 people who do the job, July 2015
15. Inspect and mark completed workpieces and stack them on pallets, in boxes, or on conveyors so that they can be moved to the next workstation.  
   Core task · Task 12283 · Rated by 88 people who do the job, July 2015
16. Inspect pulleys, drive belts, guards, or fences on machines to ensure that machines will operate safely.  
   Core task · Task 12286 · Rated by 91 people who do the job, July 2015
17. Clean or maintain products, machines, or work areas.  
   Core task · Task 12289 · Rated by 89 people who do the job, July 2015
18. Attach and adjust guides, stops, clamps, chucks, or feed mechanisms, using hand tools.  
   Core task · Task 12290 · Rated by 87 people who do the job, July 2015
19. Trim wood parts according to specifications, using planes, chisels, or wood files or sanders.  
   Core task · Task 12295 · Rated by 90 people who do the job, July 2015
20. Grease or oil woodworking machines.  
   Core task · Task 20823 · Rated by 89 people who do the job, July 2015
21. Unclamp workpieces and remove them from machines.  
   Supplemental task · Task 12296 · Rated by 90 people who do the job, July 2015
22. Start machines and move levers to engage hydraulic lifts that press woodstocks into desired forms and disengage lifts after appropriate drying times.  
   Supplemental task · Task 12297 · Rated by 91 people who do the job, July 2015
23. Operate gluing machines to glue pieces of wood together, or to press and affix wood veneer to wood surfaces.  
   Supplemental task · Task 12293 · Rated by 89 people who do the job, July 2015
24. Set up, program, or control computer-aided design (CAD) or computer numerical control (CNC) machines.  
   Supplemental task · Task 12292 · Rated by 90 people who do the job, July 2015
25. Control hoists to remove parts or products from work stations.  
   Supplemental task · Task 12298 · Rated by 90 people who do the job, July 2015

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## Where this comes from

Quoted from O*NET 29.0, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, under CC BY 4.0: free to copy and reuse, with credit. Nothing on this page is written by the Org.AI Foundation.
