Say Jody, I think your job for the last 6 years sounds like what a
machinist does. What am I missing here? I make all my own fixtures and
jigs. In fact I make everything in my shop without supervision since
I'm self employed. I work to tight tolerances for much of the work.
And I'm a machinist. Should I call myself a toolmaker?
Eric R Snow,
Machini, er, Toolmaker,
E T Precision Mach, er, hum, Toolmaking

If you are self-employed, then you are more of a businessman than a
machinist.

So tell me your definition of a machinist and a toolmaker? I'm not
going to get in a battle of what a machinist does and what toolmaker
does. I know what I do is a step above a machinist. I don't do die
making. Therefore, I won't call myself a die maker. Same thing with
moldmaking....I won't call myself one because I don't do it. However,
I do make and design tools to hold production parts on the shop floor.
I don't sit behind a machine and make 5 of these parts or 50 of those
parts. I let the guys on the shop floor do that. Occassionally, we
may let businessmen like yourself make these parts if we get behind