Etchers and Engravers — Career Decision Dashboard

Typical tasks

• Determine machine settings, and move bars or levers to reproduce designs on rollers or plates.
• Remove completed workpieces and place them in trays.
• Inspect etched work for depth of etching, uniformity, and defects, using calibrated microscopes, gauges, fingers, or magnifying lenses.
• Examine sketches, diagrams, samples, blueprints, or photographs to decide how designs are to be etched, cut, or engraved onto workpieces.
• Clean and polish engraved areas.
• Prepare workpieces for etching or engraving by cutting, sanding, cleaning, polishing, or treating them with wax, acid resist, lime, etching powder, or light-sensitive enamel.
• Engrave and print patterns, designs, etchings, trademarks, or lettering onto flat or curved surfaces of a wide variety of metal, glass, plastic, or paper items, using hand tools or hand-held power tools.
• Prepare etching chemicals according to formulas, diluting acid with water to obtain solutions of specified concentration.