The Complete Guide to Becoming A Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender, Metal and Plastic

I was fully expecting a fluff piece that just told me to 'follow my dream,' but this actually read like someone who has stood next to a press for eight hours. The chapter on what the job actually involves convinced me I could handle it, and the salary table was inline with what my cousin in Ohio says he makes. Knocking off one star because I wanted a little more on the downside of the physical work, but overall it was a solid reality check.

It's a decent overview, but I felt like the author was trying a bit too hard to be 'gritty.' I work in an office now, and the descriptions of the noise and the pace made me think twice. The day-in-the-life narrative was interesting, but I found myself wanting more numbers about how many people actually wash out in the first year. It's not bad, just not as deep as I hoped.

I'm a career-changer from retail management, and I needed to know if this was a step up or a lateral move. The book delivered. The chapter on breaking in gave me a concrete checklist - I used it to rewrite my resume and got called back for an interview the next week. The hour-by-hour breakdown was spot-on; it reminded me of my first week on a forklift, but with more detail. Very grounded.

This is the book I wish someone had handed me in high school. I'm 28, I've been bouncing between restaurant jobs, and I thought press operating looked like a trap. But the numbers in the salary chapter actually made me reconsider - the mid-level pay is real, and the path from operator to setter is laid out clearly. I finished the book, called a local manufacturer, and I'm starting my first week next Monday. The honest talk about the heat and the monotony saved me from quitting after day one, too.

The info is good, mostly. But I found the tone a little 'rah-rah' for what is ultimately a pretty repetitive job. My dad was a press operator for twenty years, and his stories are different from what's here - more about the politics of the floor and the warehouse drama. The book covers the basics well, but it felt like it was written for a greener audience than me.

I've been a CNC operator for five years, and I picked this up to see if moving over to presses would be a change of pace. The chapter on career growth was the most useful part - it convinced me that the ceiling here isn't as low as I thought, especially with the new CNC-enabled punch presses. The author does a good job of describing the physical reality without exaggerating. Good balance.

What sold me was the first chapter - the description of setting up a die and the first few test parts made the job sound like a puzzle, not just grunt work. I was scared I'd hate the repetition, but the book's detailed look at the troubleshooting side of the job sealed it for me. I'm in a trade school program now, and I feel like I have a head start because I know what to expect. Only complaint is I wanted a few more photos or diagrams.