Die Maker Salary

• Fabricates set of dies for use in forming and shaping metal jewelry blanks, following drawings or blueprints and using variety of metalworking machines and engraver's hand tools.
• Brushes blue dye on surface of steel block work piece.
• Measures, locates, and marks center of block with cross-lines, using divider and drafter's pencil.
• Copies design, freehand, from sample drawing or blueprint, maintaining size specifications.
• Scribes along drawn line, using scribe.
• Measures finished design for conformance to specifications, using calipers and gauges.
• Positions work piece in vise and cuts out lines of design.
• Chips and cuts away excess metal to complete design, using metalworking machines and hand tools.
• Verifies dimensions of work piece, using calipers and gauges.
• Hardens and tempers steel block and drives it into another block of soft steel or plastic to form sunken design, using press, or sends it to machine shop for processing.
• Engraves other half of die by pounding thin sheets of metal into completed half.
• May engrave lettering and designs into dies, using pantograph machine.
• May cut out, shape, and harden upper steel die (forcer) used to stamp out jewelry articles.

Die Maker Job Prevalence in the United States

Job family: Tool and Die Makers

Job family population: 72,700

Estimated population of Die Maker jobs: 3,429

Rate of error: 2.1%