Career Details :: Sheet Metal Workers
Description
Fabricate, assemble, install, and repair sheet metal products and equipment, such as ducts, control boxes, drainpipes, and furnace casings. Work may involve any of the following: setting up and operating fabricating machines to cut, bend, and straighten sheet metal; shaping metal over anvils, blocks, or forms using hammer; operating soldering and welding equipment to join sheet metal parts; inspecting, assembling, and smoothing seams and joints of burred surfaces.
Experience
Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.
Education
Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree. Some may require a bachelor's degree.
Training
Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers.
Tasks
- Lays out and marks dimensions and reference lines on material, using scribes, dividers, squares, and rulers.
- Installs assemblies in supportive framework according to blueprints, using hand tools, power tools, and lifting and handling devices.
- Trims, files, grinds, deburrs, burrs, and smoothes surfaces, using hand tools and portable power tools.
- Welds, solders, bolts, rivets, screws, clips, caulks, or bonds component parts to assemble products, using hand tools, power tools, and equipment.
- Inspects assemblies and installation for conformance to specifications, using measuring instruments, such as calipers, scales, dial indicators, gauges, and micrometers.
- Selects gauge and type of sheet metal or nonmetallic material, according to product specifications.
- Shapes metal material over anvil, block, or other form, using hand tools.
- Sets up and operates fabricating machines, such as shears, brakes, presses, and routers, to cut, bend, block, and form materials.
- Determines sequence and methods of fabricating, assembling, and installing sheet metal products, using blueprints, sketches, or product specifications.
Related Careers
- Coil Winders, Tapers, and Finishers
- Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Grinding, Honing, Lapping, and Deburring Machine Set-Up Operators
- Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Precision Mold and Pattern Casters, except Nonferrous Metals
- Semiconductor Processors
- Tool and Die Makers
Important Abilities
General Work Activities
- Handling and Moving Objects
- Performing General Physical Activities
- Controlling Machines and Processes
- Getting Information Needed to Do the Job
- Inspecting Equipment, Structures, Material
Important Skills
Frequent Work Context
- Indoors
- Consequence of Error
- Importance of Being Exact or Accurate
- Degree of Automation
- Using Hands on Objects, Tools, Controls
Related Majors
| Major | Add to XapPack |
|---|---|
| Building Science |  [ add ] |
| Construction Management/Wood Products Engineering | [ add ] |
| Construction/Architectural Engineering Technology | [ add ] |
Institutions Offering Related Majors
No institutions found.