Skilled Trades
Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
Set up, operate, or tend heating equipment, such as heat-treating furnaces, flame-hardening machines, induction machines, soaking pits, or vacuum equipment to temper, harden, anneal, or heat treat metal or plastic objects.
Median salary
$47,450
Typical range
$35k – $64k
Job outlook
See national outlook
AI exposure
Plan a path to Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
Education
Typical entry: No degree required
Plan my path to this →Typical progression
Junior Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
Entry / Junior
$35,260
~2 yrs to advance
Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
Established
$47,450
~3 yrs to advance
Senior Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
Senior
$55,870
Key skills
A typical day
- •Read production schedules and work orders to determine processing sequences, furnace temperatures, and heat cycle requirements for objects to be heat-treated.
- •Record times that parts are removed from furnaces to document that objects have attained specified temperatures for specified times.
- •Adjust controls to maintain temperatures and heating times, using thermal instruments and charts, dials and gauges of furnaces, and color of stock in furnaces to make setting determinations.
- •Start conveyors and open furnace doors to load stock, or signal crane operators to uncover soaking pits and lower ingots into them.
- •Set up and operate or tend machines, such as furnaces, baths, flame-hardening machines, and electronic induction machines, that harden, anneal, and heat-treat metal.
Fields of study
Any field
Top colleges for Skilled Trades
Explore all- Purdue University50% admit · $78,000 grad pay
- Ohio State University53% admit · $68,000 grad pay
- Pennsylvania State University55% admit · $70,000 grad pay
Reputation-based selection; stats shown are outcome data per school.