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Machinist v. Millwright

sunluna

Plastic
Joined
Nov 17, 2017
Please forgive the incredibly ignorant question but what is the difference between the two. When I read the definitions for each I think 'but that's a machinist, or but that's a millwright'. Can someone please enlighten me. I'm a Safety professional and do not want to offend my clients when speaking about their profession.

Thank you kindly!
 
There is some overlap in both trades and depending on the company or union the definitions and job requirements can differ a lot.. But "generally" Millwrights install, maintain and repair the industrial equipment that machinists use to make parts.
 
I encounter millwrights, and not machinists, assembling and aligning steam and gas turbine generators in power plants, grinding mills in ore facilities, distillation columns in refineries, and places like that. Millwrights often move from site to site, and machinists typically do not. Sure, there can be millwrights dedicated to one site, like a steel mill.
 
Machinists make the machine and Millwrights install and maintain the machine. There are basically two types of Millwright...operating and construction. Construction Millwrights install machinery while operating Millwrights maintain machinery. Operating Millwrights 'chase whistles'..at least in the industry I'm familiar with.

Stuart
 
Please forgive the incredibly ignorant question but what is the difference between the two. When I read the definitions for each I think 'but that's a machinist, or but that's a millwright'. Can someone please enlighten me. I'm a Safety professional and do not want to offend my clients when speaking about their profession.

Thank you kindly!
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a millwright is a field machinist. they can take drawings, order supplies, fabricate parts, install and align parts in machines, test and debug machines and maintain machines as needed.
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often they are more a jack of all trades and master of few. but they often can find solutions faster when everything is not perfect. think mcgyver . welder, steel worker, machinist, surveyor, many trades often done. but not everybody is the same with same abilities
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optical transit has bad 2 speed high precision screw, think of design, create drawing, order materials, fabricate a 127 tpi tap and create 127 tpi screw and split nut, install in transit, calibrate and use transit. or design and fabricate a special high precision level using castings made in home made foundry
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few years later by running a cnc making 11 ton parts and week after doing manual machining, week after making programs for small single piece jobs.
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many millwrights are like Mcgyver. often looked down upon as inferior machinist even though they may have made many many things that are astounding and awe inspiring.
 

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I encounter millwrights, and not machinists, assembling and aligning steam and gas turbine generators in power plants, grinding mills in ore facilities, distillation columns in refineries, and places like that.

I think it really varies by industry. In hydro they would call those same people machinists, not millwrights.
 
millwright is often called a field machinist. they work in the field often on large multi story machines which may need parts made big and small. alignment, debugging, trouble shooting, repairs. a lot can be done
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a level mic i made and a tram gage with fine adjust. often tools made to solve problems adapted from other tools. like Mcgyver making stuff to solve machine problems
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alignment readings to figure out why machine not working exactly as inspected. use 3D cad models in semitransparent mode for xray ability to see into assemblies to better understand them
 

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There are very few millwrights that can do any of that. In my experience working in quite a few large shops, the description given by Stuart jives pretty well with the reality of the situation just about everywhere. As always there are exceptions to the rule, but generally millwrights do teardowns and rebuilds on all sorts of equipment, while machinists make the equipment parts.
 
There are very few millwrights that can do any of that. In my experience working in quite a few large shops, the description given by Stuart jives pretty well with the reality of the situation just about everywhere. As always there are exceptions to the rule, but generally millwrights do teardowns and rebuilds on all sorts of equipment, while machinists make the equipment parts.

When I worked at GM on the assembly line, they would shut down for a while after each model year manufacture. The millwrights would come in and set up the assembly lines for the coming model year. That would include changing the conveyor belts, overhead parts moving lines and electrical changes as well.

It's quite a bit different from a machinist, at least as I understand the term.
 
like many jobs some only do bull work basically a lot of heavy lifting and pushing and pulling moving new and old machines around
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but some install machines then trouble shoot and fix stuff, align stuff, remake parts as needed. often work with a engineer who says i want machine to do something. design something, make and install it and test make sure machine works better. many engineers are chemical process engineers they are not engineers in traditional sense
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i often designed parts on CAD then programmed and made parts then installed and aligned and tested and made sure machine working as expected.
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sure you can get stuck on jobs working on handrail and fork truck bumper boards for months. i have been in places it took years to prove my abilities and to get engineers to trust what i could do.
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some get stuck taking machines apart and cleaning and reassembling. or taking stuff apart to all 100 tons goes to the junk yard
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if helping out on big machine shutdown you can easily work as a team with over 100 other people. often assigned smaller individual jobs. young guys often stuck doing jobs outside in the rain and the snow cause nobody else want to do it. older guys do nicer jobs (or retire) cause jobs are too much for older guys. or like me transfer to full time shop machinist job. too old to work in the field any more
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carrying a 5 ton chainfall hoist up a 40 foot ladder i cannot do anymore
 
Millwright was for steel construction, moving heavy things like machines motors (after the electrician dropped the wires) and spindles over a certain size over and set up and level machines. Mostly if it needed a chain fall or a hi lo it was a millwright job..Yes a millwright was allowed to use tool room machines but was asked to let let machinist and tool makers to make precision pares. Machine repair could move heavys but was asked to call the millwright when needed. Machinist and tool maker are close related… making parts from print or sample using all tool room machines…Some shops had a tool room grinder hand much because that is a special talent. Yes some toolmakers and machinists were good grinder hands.
 
Millwright was for steel construction, moving heavy things like machines motors (after the electrician dropped the wires) and spindles over a certain size over and set up and level machines. Mostly if it needed a chain fall or a hi lo it was a millwright job..Yes a millwright was allowed to use tool room machines but was asked to let let machinist and tool makers to make precision pares. Machine repair could move heavys but was asked to call the millwright when needed. Machinist and tool maker are close related… making parts from print or sample using all tool room machines…Some shops had a tool room grinder hand much because that is a special talent. Yes some toolmakers and machinists were good grinder hands.
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different places got different rules
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many shops millwrights not allowed to use shop machines usually its a job security thing. same as welders getting upset that millwrights will take all the welding work away
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i even seen a job where if you didnt have your machinist diploma on you they walked you out the gate and took your badge away so you could not come back into factory
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some places and people are very insecure about their ability to hold on to their normal work. often discrimination of millwrights by shop machinist is very severe. other places you are welcomed into shop and everybody is very helpful.
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i often worked both in the shop and in the field but i will admit some shops are friendlier than others. like some shops you can be there 10 years and still not have a workbench assigned to you. its little things but basically discrimination
 
I worked at a large shop that kept toying with the notion a skilled trades person should know and do all the skills.
That just goes to show how dumb management can be..likely take 20 or more years training to be safe or decent at all the skills..
 
millwrights around here make much better pay. machinists not so great.

Although the industry that required Millwrights around here is now almost extinct, in its heyday Millwrights were only a smidge below God in reverence and pay. Now Marijuana is the cash crop for the area and there aren't too many Millwrights needed for that gig!:angry:

Stuart
 
I used to be in the sheet metal and/or construction trades. Several employments I had I worked on grain elevators. Guys that climbed were generally called millwrights. Mostly involved a lot of mechanics work, installing and fixing grain handling equipment.
 
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different places got different rules
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many shops millwrights not allowed to use shop machines usually its a job security thing. same as welders getting upset that millwrights will take all the welding work away
.
i even seen a job where if you didnt have your machinist diploma on you they walked you out the gate and took your badge away so you could not come back into factory
.
some places and people are very insecure about their ability to hold on to their normal work. often discrimination of millwrights by shop machinist is very severe. other places you are welcomed into shop and everybody is very helpful.
.
i often worked both in the shop and in the field but i will admit some shops are friendlier than others. like some shops you can be there 10 years and still not have a workbench assigned to you. its little things but basically discrimination

I have never seen this (discrimination against millwrights by machinists) at any of the places I've worked. Generally any time a millwright is actually qualified to run a machine tool I have no problem with it at all. The problem arises when you don't know a guy's skill level. I would no sooner let a millwright whose ability level I didn't know run a very expensive machine tool than let a random guy off the street run one.

If he reassured me that he knew what he was doing I would be more than happy to stick around and watch to make sure - and once I was satisfied he wasn't going to destroy anything he would be free to use the machine. This would apply to any new guy BTW - machinist or millwright.

Most of the larger machine tools are a bit of a different story in many shops. People can be seriously and permanently hurt or even killed through misusing these tools.
 
I have never seen this (discrimination against millwrights by machinists) at any of the places I've worked. Generally any time a millwright is actually qualified to run a machine tool I have no problem with it at all. The problem arises when you don't know a guy's skill level. I would no sooner let a millwright whose ability level I didn't know run a very expensive machine tool than let a random guy off the street run one.

If he reassured me that he knew what he was doing I would be more than happy to stick around and watch to make sure - and once I was satisfied he wasn't going to destroy anything he would be free to use the machine. This would apply to any new guy BTW - machinist or millwright.

Most of the larger machine tools are a bit of a different story in many shops. People can be seriously and permanently hurt or even killed through misusing these tools.

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i have heard it all before many times. shop machinist worried about anybody coming in and breaking their shop machines. in one shop the millwrights used the oldest lathe and mill and the best lathe and mill was locked and only for the chosen few to use. sure i have a machinist diploma but never bothered to argue with the insecure machinist
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i often was asked by process engineers to get machine to do something different. i would draw with cad cam software, show design change looked like get the ok, create programs and setup info, fabricate parts, install parts and align and debug if needed redesign and try again.
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so i started as a millwright (20 years) then became a maintenance machinist then worked in a short run department on a cnc mazak mill doing programming setup and operating, now i work in large machining department on making bigger parts.
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i still think of myself as a millwright even though i have done many trades over the years. i have had other machinist come right up to me and tell me i would never be as good as a machinist as they are. not worth even talking to the guy about it. i felt bad when he lost his job and i kept my job at the time for another 6 years. i had boss tell me he kept me at job cause i was not a expert in any one thing but was more a jack of all trades. boss didnt want a machinist he really wanted a millwright. most millwrights can do many trades. i work in the shop full time now as i a too old to do the more physically demanding millwright work. many millwrights have bad knees, bad backs, hernias, etc
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the welders used to say same thing. i would never be as good as a welder as they are and i was taking welding jobs away. i would say i only got 2 hands and 2 legs. i cannot replace a shop machinist and a welder and be a millwright all at same time. only so many hours in a day. many people are insecure about their jobs and try to protect them or keeps others away or out of the shop
 

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