Profession tumbling machine operator

Tumbling machine operators set up and operate tumbling machines, often wet or drie tumbling barrels, designed to remove excess material and burrs of heavy metal workpieces and precious metals and to improve surface appearance, by rotating the metal pieces in a barrel together with grit and potentially water, allowing for the friction between the pieces mutually and with the grit to cause a rounding, smooth effect.

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Personality Type

• Realistic / Conventional

Knowledge

• Tumbling machine parts

  Various parts of a tumbling machine, such as a deburr tub, tumbling barrel, tumbling compound and steel media ceramic polishing pins, their qualities and applications. 

• Quality standards

  The national and international requirements, specifications and guidelines to ensure that products, services and processes are of good quality and fit for purpose.

• Types of metal

  Qualities, specifications, applications and reactions to different fabricating processes of various types of metal, such as steel, aluminium, brass, copper and others.

• Quality and cycle time optimisation

  The most optimal rotation or cycle time and over-all quality of a tool or a machine's processes.

Skills

• Remove inadequate workpieces

  Evaluate which deficient processed workpieces do not meet the set-up standard and should be removed and sort the waste according to regulations.

• Remove processed workpiece

  Remove individual workpieces after processing, from the manufacturing machine or the machine tool. In case of a conveyor belt this involves quick, continuous movement.

• Troubleshoot

  Identify operating problems, decide what to do about it and report accordingly.

• Monitor automated machines

  Continuously check up on the automated machine's set-up and execution or make regular control rounds. If necessary, record and interpret data on the operating conditions of installations and equipment in order to identify abnormalities.

• Wear appropriate protective gear

  Wear relevant and necessary protective gear, such as protective goggles or other eye protection, hard hats, safety gloves.

• Supply machine

  Ensure the machine is fed the necessary and adequate materials and control the placement or automatic feed and retrieval of work pieces in the machines or machine tools on the production line.

• Smooth burred surfaces

  Inspect and smooth burred surfaces of steel and metal parts.

• Spot metal imperfections

  Observe and identify various kinds of imperfections in metal workpieces or finished products. Recognise the best fitted manner of fixing the problem, which could be caused by corrosion, rust, fractures, leaks, and other signs of wear.

• Tend tumbling machine

  Tend a machine designed to smoothen metal or stone surfaces by having the different pieces rub against each other inside a tumbling barrel, monitor and operate it according to regulations.

• Perform test run

  Perform tests putting a system, machine, tool or other equipment through a series of actions under actual operating conditions in order to assess its reliability and suitability to realise its tasks, and adjust settings accordingly.

• Monitor moving workpiece in a machine

  Monitor the processing of a workpiece in motion, such as a piece of metal or wood moved linearly over a static manufacturing machine.

• Ensure equipment availability

  Ensure that the necessary equipment is provided, ready and available for use before start of procedures.

Optional knowledge and skills

Source: Sisyphus ODB