James
That’s the one-million-dollar question with no definitive answer. I will try and answer your question but it really is a loaded question that none wants to talk about, evident from the lack of post in the forum. I traveled the country for eight years as a service tech for a major moulding manufacturer, this question came up quite often in my travels.

Here some things that may, or may not help you.

Different regions of the country wages are based on a few things like location, education level, population, number of competing moulding businesses in the area, right to work state or not, size of the pool of workers the workforce can pull from, general skilled labor pay scale for that area. These are just a few that I can think of at the time because so many come into play.

"Pay rates for someone just setting up & running the moulder, and for someone who can grind knives and do the whole shebang "
Depends on what someone is willing to pay you!

"I'm also interested in if there are different rates for different machine brands/styles".
Depends on what your boss thinks you're worth!

"Such as, is a person who is experienced with Weinig Power lock tools worth more than someone who is only familiar with conventional tooling?"
This is best answered by you, how much moulding do you mill in a day and how much profit are you consistently making the company you work for, when I say constantly I mean day in, day out, eight hour or more a day, no slackers. The only time the company you're working for is making money is when the moulder is producing the high quality mouldings every day.

"I've been running moulders since 2001, and have been pretty fortunate. I've been able to make what I need, and work where I've wanted without any trouble. I've worked in 3 different moulding shops throughout my career, (2 in the Great Lakes region and now one in the southwest) and at every one, it has been a tough task to find good moulder operators"!
The answer to this statement is the same one as above, when I say constantly I mean day in, day out, eight hours or more a day, no slackers. I have seen many awesome moulding operators in my days and many slackers.

" Or, you find someone good who likes the work, but the company doesn't want to pay them enough to keep them happy. It seems to me, when you find someone who is good, you might be further ahead paying them a little more than you might think you should be paying for that position than to let them leave and have to start the process of replacing them all over again, which can sometimes take years in my experience"!

This is a big problem throughout the county, I have lived your pain in my early days as a moulder operator. I have been very blessed working in this industry for well over thirty years, I used my GI bill for apprenticeship training thru the Carpenter's union who provide me an opportunity to learn some awesome skills that I will always remember and be grateful for, many great craftsmen helped me daily. Working for Weinig for eight years as a service technician was very rewarding also, they had some of the smartest engineers to learn from and they are largely responsible for my success today. I can never repay them for all they have done for me.

I guess the bottom line is education, work ethic, attitude = pay grade.
If you're not happy move on, there is someone out there willing to pay you what you are looking for in pay…. If not, start your own business.
Be warned, it's not as easy as it looks, and if you do decide to own your own business remember the question you asked on this post for the person or persons who work for you.

In summary, you are only worth what your employer is willing to pay you. It may sound a little rough on the edges but that’s the bottom line.
I apologize for not being able to give you hard numbers.

All the Best
Russ @ MR

Data from the Northeast:

We probably pay all our people a bit more than average overall, simply because we have had so much trouble finding and keeping good help. I feel that a few extra bucks is money well spent in the long term.

However, one thing the OP didn't mention is benefits. Benefits can add up to $10/hour. Medical and/or Disability Insurance, Retirement Accounts, Holidays, Vacation and Sick Pay, Company Clothing, where do you stop?

In addition to wages, our employees get 9 paid holidays per year, 2 sick days, up to 4 weeks vacation, 3% SIMPLE IRA match, significant (averages around 50%) medical insurance contribution, medical reimbursement up to $2000 per year, safety shoe reimbursement, company shirts/jackets, plus a bunch of minor things I wont bother to mention but still add up to hundreds of dollars per year per employee.

For a moulder operator (someone who can set up and run a moulder) we are in the low-mid $20s. For a grinder man who can do it all (including complicated repairs such as spindle replacement) we are near $30.

FWIW, we are an established, profitable shop. That makes it easier to pay people more. But the reason we are where we are is because of the employees that we have. Can be a chicken/egg thing, but you can't expect every employer to take the step of faith and be the one to pay a high wage in hopes of it turning around and paying dividends.