Patternmaker Wood

[Theodora Andy]

Previouswork-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these careers. For example, an electrician must be in an apprenticeship for three to four years or have several years of job training. You may need to pass a test to get a license to do the job.

Employees in these careers need one or two years of training. Both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers may be needed. An apprenticeship program may be a good choice for these careers.

Different careers need different amounts of preparation.Each O*NET career is in one of five Job Zones, which are groups of careers that need the same level of experience, education, and training.Explore more careers in Job Zone Three. Find Training Train for careers like patternmakers, wood.

Fine sand, dampened with an oil is forced around a pattern that is to be cast, forming a mold. The mold is broken into halves and gates and vents are added (openings to allow molten iron in and air out). The pattern is removed and the metal poured making a casting. The sand is broken away leaving the rough casting.

Nowadays, this trade as a woodworking specialty is nearly extinct. Patterns are still used for casting, but they are most often some plastic, formed in a number of ways, notably digitally in a process called stereolithography, where layers of polymer resin are shot .001-inch thick in multiple passes by a kind of a printer forming a very accurate 3D pattern directly from a 3D CAD file.

precision of work was important, but what really distinguished them was understanding how a part was to be cast and then finished (where they had to allow material for a machined surface such as the plane sole and where you got the cast surface; where the material was poured and where/how big were the relieving vents). Critical was understanding the shrinking behavoiur of the metal - they used special rulers that were scaled to represent the shrinkage of different metals.

bald, in the strictest sense, a pattern maker crafts and builds the pattern (Or mold)to the correct specifications neccessary to cast many identical metal or plastic parts in a mold. Due to factors such as metal shrinkage, draft and complex shaping, the original pattern is crafted slightly oversize and possibly made with take apart components.

Most work is with wood of the best quality and the pattern maker should have many years of experience. Their tools are similar to our's but impecably honed and cared for

Just about every thing manufactured today has to have prototypes.( hence patternmakers.)

Rich,

I did not know that a patternmaker was among us. So many pattern shops have gone out of business due to foreign outsourcing.I have been the sad but lucky beneficiary of several shops that closed, buying used tools, large and small. One thing about buying tools from a pattern shop is that you can bet that the tools were of high quality, were well cared for, and were not over used to the point of worthless for close work. One of my recent acquisitions was a Zimmermann 800mm bandsaw, with 25" under the guides. A 1977 model. Most people have never heard of Zimmermann tools, but patternmakers were their main customers, I suspect. Rich -- Does your shop run some Zimmermanns? Disk or porfile sanders, or overarm routers? I also have an old "Fritzie" overarm router, but have not yet played with it.Alan

If you go to the website I posted, some of the pictures there show the machinery in the shop. Most of it is homemade by the father of the present owner. This machinery is very well built and far better than most. Homemade stuff includes 2 30" bandsaws that the table will raise and lower about 10" and tilt both ways to 45, a 20" jointer, a 24x24 verticle belt sander, a 12" table saw, a large drill press that is designed to do milling on(it can also be set up as an overhead oscelating spindle sander), and a huge lathe that can handle 8' dia and 8' long. The headstock of the lathe rotates 7 1/2 each way for turning draft and can be offset about 6" forward and 20" back for various operations. Some very clever designs in some of this equiptment. The shop also has a 4'x8' iron surface plate with a overhead router set up on it. The router reaches just past the center of the table and will accept stock up to about 3' thick. Makes for one large planer. The router can also be inverted and mounted in the center of the table to make a large shaper. Many other clever devises all around the shop along with some commercial made machines. A cool place to work.The Professional Termite

I bet it is a cool place to work because of what you are learning rather than the neat tools. I find it wonderful to work with someone who is far better at what we are working on than I am. I learn SO much. At my last job I learned a huge amount about managing and leading people. I was lucky enough to work closely with the president of the company.

A friend of mine was a patternmaker for a shoe manufacturer. If you look at a typical shoe, there are a number of different pieces of leather that go together to make the style and size. His job was to make patterns out of metal for all these various pieces. Once a pattern was made, a die would be made to cut the leather in consistent, repeatable pieces. In some cases, a wooden last would also be made in the shape of a foot. The shoe would often be formed and stitched around the last. The pattermakers have to be good at precise measurements of three dimensional shapes. They don't necessarily work in wood or even work with joinery. It's more about establishing a precise shape that will set the standard from which many identical shapes can be made. I don't know of any patternmakers that work in the furniture industry but they would be involved in the manufacture of hardware. A lot of this type work can be done with computers, today, making a patternmakers work obsolete.

The median salary for a Wood Patternmaker is$65,120,and the average salary is$60,750.Both the median and average roughly describe the middle of the Wood Patternmaker salary range, but the average is more easily affected by extremely high or low salaries.

Career interests describe a person's preferences for different types of working environments and activities. When a person's interest match the demands of an occupation, people are usually more engaged and satisfied in that role.

Wood Patternmakers typically have very strongRealisticinterests. Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.

Also, Wood Patternmakers typically have moderateInvestigativeinterests. Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

Lastly, Wood Patternmakers typically have moderateArtisticinterests. Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.

Wood Patternmakers typically have moderateConventionalinterests. Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.

Second, Wood Patternmakers moderately valueRelationships.Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to provide service to others and work with co-workers in a friendly non-competitive environment.

Wood Patternmakers usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with this occupation.

Wood Patternmakers must develop a particular set ofabilities to perform their job well. Abilities are individual capacities that influence a person's information processing, sensory perception, motor coordination, and physical strength or endurance. Individuals may naturally have certain abilities without explicit training, but most abilities can be sharpened somewhat through practice.

For example, Wood Patternmakers need abilities such as manual dexterity,arm-hand steadiness, andcontrol precision in order to perform their job at a high level. The list below shows several important abilities for Wood Patternmakers, ranked by their relative importance.

Skillsare developed capacities that enable people to function effectively in real-world settings. Unlike abilities, skills are typically easier to build through practice and experience. Skills influence effectiveness in areas such as learning, working with others, design, troubleshooting, and more.

Wood Patternmakers frequently use skills like reading comprehension,monitoring, andcomplex problem solving to perform their job effectively. The list below shows several critical skills for Wood Patternmakers, ranked by their relative importance.

The information provided on this page is adapted from data and descriptions published by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration under the CC BY 4.0 license. TraitLab has modified some information for ease of use and reading, and the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment, and Training Administration has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

Wood Patternmakers plan, lay out, and construct wooden unit or sectional patterns used in forming sand molds for castings. They also read blueprints, drawings, or written specifications to determine sizes and shapes of patterns and required machine setups.

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