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Tool Makers - How Tool Makers and Die Makers Overlap


Tool Makers and die makers are often viewed and considered as one profession because they overlap so much. Tool Makers are highly skilled craftsmen working in the manufacturing business that create different and many types of tools that are required within the manufacturing process. Any appliance or machine that we use in our daily lives uses parts that Tool Makers have created. Tool makers make tools such as jigs, fixtures, dies, moulds, cutting tools, machine tools, gauges, and much more. Tool makers can be described as the top heading for this profession and within this heading you have specialized areas such as Mould Makers, die makers, and tool fitters.
 
By definition tool makers create tools that are used to produce products. Die makers are indeed tool makers but they focus mainly on creating and maintaining dies. Die makers are required to create tools such as punches, dies, steel rule dies, and die sets to aid in the die making process. Die makers have to be extremely accurate and precise in order to create parts correctly, their work needs to be so exact that the machines they use need to be set at measures of less than one thousandth of an inch. If the settings and measurements are out even a touch then the part will not be correct and cannot be used.
 
Tool makers and die makers often overlap within their field because a person in either field may be asked to carry out jobs which have been described in either profession. Die making is a sub genre of Tool Making but it is all interconnected.
 
The training for tool makers and die makers is very similar. A background in mathematics, science and engineering is required and a good knowledge of computers and using computer software is helpful. Many tool makers start out in apprenticeships which combine classroom work and text book learning with hands on experience to develop their skills and ability. 

 

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