Grinder Operator

Hydraulics International, Inc•Los Angeles, CA

2h•$20 - $22•Onsite

About The Position

Hydraulics International, Inc (HII) seeks a Grinder Operator to operate precision grinding equipment to sharpen and manufacture cutting tools to high quality finish blueprint specifications.

Requirements

High school diploma or equivalent
2+ years of experience operating grinding machines in a manufacturing environment
Strong mechanical aptitude and experience with machine tool operation
Ability to read and interpret engineering drawings and work instructions
Good verbal and written communication skills
Ability to work independently or in a team environment

Nice To Haves

Centerless grinding process knowledge — understands through-feed, in-feed/plunge grinding, work-rest blade function, regulating-wheel angle/speed, grinding-wheel condition, and how those variables affect part size and finish.
Machine setup capability — can set work-rest height, blade position, wheel spacing, guides, regulating-wheel angle, and feeds/speeds without relying entirely on another technician.
Grinding wheel knowledge — understands wheel grade, grit, bond, hardness, dressing, truing, loading, glazing, and when wheel condition is causing dimensional or finish problems.
Troubleshooting ability — can diagnose issues such as taper, out-of-round, chatter, lobing, burn, poor surface finish, inconsistent diameter, scratches, feeding problems, and excessive wheel wear.
Precision measurement — strong with micrometers, calipers, indicators, bore/air gauges where applicable, and ideally measurement to tenths (.0001") when the work requires it.
Blueprint and GD&T literacy — can interpret tolerances, cylindricity, roundness, straightness, surface-finish requirements, runout, and inspection callouts.
Process adjustment and compensation — understands how small changes in wheel speed, regulating-wheel RPM, blade height, coolant flow, dressing, and machine geometry affect the finished part.
Mechanical aptitude — comfortable identifying worn bearings, loose tooling, vibration, guide problems, coolant issues, alignment problems, and other machine-related causes rather than assuming every problem is operator error.
Quality discipline — able to perform first-piece approval, in-process inspection, SPC checks, control-plan requirements, and react appropriately to trends before parts go out of tolerance.
Surface finish knowledge — understands Ra requirements and how wheel selection, dressing, feed rate, vibration, coolant, and material condition affect finish.
Material awareness — familiarity with how hardened steels, stainless steels, tool steels, nickel alloys, and other aerospace-type materials behave differently during grinding.
Coolant and filtration awareness — recognizes how concentration, flow, temperature, contamination, and filtration affect size stability, wheel life, finish, and burn.
Setup documentation — can document proven settings, wheel specifications, blade configurations, dressing parameters, inspection results, and troubleshooting notes so setups become repeatable.
Safety fundamentals — understands grinding-wheel inspection, mounting, guarding, wheel-speed limits, proper startup procedures, PPE, and lockout/tagout.
Structured problem solving — looks for root cause instead of simply adjusting the machine repeatedly until the part happens to come into tolerance.

Responsibilities

Perform quality inspection of tooling throughout the manufacturing and sharpening process
Sharpen most tools of various complexities to match blueprint specs without assistance using fixed gauges, micrometers, calipers, optical comparators, and surface gauges
Perform set ups, operate all manual grinders and perform all silver soldering tasks with the use of judgment
Select work holding fixtures to use in the tool grinding process.
Set up, align, and operate surface, and cutter, as well as any related equipment to perform medium complexity grinding operator
Ability to multi-task, run multiples of machines at once while producing quality output
Ability to read blue prints