Doing A Little Metal Cutting As Well

China Woody

New User
John
It seems a little heretical to share some experience with cutting metal on my favorite woodworking site, but the skills overlap, and maybe others have been branching out as well.
After a good experience making small wooden boxes to sell at a Renaissance Faire, I decided to try to make some medallions out of 1/8" think brass. The methods I used to make my wooden projects applied, but I found that, of course, the feeds and speeds needed to be different, changing from wood to metal. Anyway, after some experimentation, I got some stuff that I like, and we will see next year if the Faire dwellers can find some use in them. All designed using V-Carve, and cut on an X-Carve machine.
 

Attachments

  • Celtic Cross.JPG
    Celtic Cross.JPG
    1.8 MB · Views: 110
  • Saint George.JPG
    Saint George.JPG
    2.2 MB · Views: 109
  • Tree of Life.JPG
    Tree of Life.JPG
    2.1 MB · Views: 114
  • Maltese Cross.JPG
    Maltese Cross.JPG
    2.7 MB · Views: 108
  • Norse Warrior.JPG
    Norse Warrior.JPG
    2.7 MB · Views: 104

Oka

Casey
Corporate Member
Very nice !
I played in the original Renaissance Faire for close to 20 years.
Not sure what they like these days, but the Faire ppl back then liked Rune, Celtic and circa 1500 ish motifs ........ hope that helps
 

China Woody

New User
John
Casey, thanks for your comments. I think the Faire-Goers today haven't changed much. My sister says that heraldic and Celtic stuff is still in demand, and that people go to the Faires with money in their pockets, and look for anything that is different -- so that's what I'm trying to provide.
 

China Woody

New User
John
Hi Joe. Sure --
I started with the same end mills that I had used for wood -- 2, 3 and 4 flute. What I found was that in metal, no matter what the depth, feed rate and stepover, the multi-fluted bits would cut, but they all made the metal so hot that the super glue I was using on blue tape to hold the workpiece to the waste board would give out and the piece would go flying. I finally tried a 1 flute bit, like the Amana 51488-Z, and it cut well and added very little heat to the work piece. I use that bit for the outside edge of my medallions. For the bitmap cutting, I use V-bits, like the Amana 45624. The key feeds and speeds that seem to work are:
Amana 51488-Z: pass depth .01, stepover .0125, feed rate 8 in/min
Amana 45624 : pass depth .01, stepover .03, feed rate 12 in/min
The V bits are much more robust, and can be driven harder than the little 1/8 and 1/16 straight bits. I have a bit more refining to do -- my first goal was to get good cuts without breaking the $40 bit. I can do that pretty well with the indicated speeds, but they can probably be pushed up a bit from there.

Hope that is of use to you. What machine do you have? What sorts of things do you cut?
 

Michael Mathews

Michael
Corporate Member
Very nice John! What is the thickness of the material you're using and I assume the finish sizes are around 1-1/2 inch? Where do you buy your material?
 

JNCarr

Joe
Corporate Member
Hi Joe. Sure --
I started with the same end mills that I had used for wood -- 2, 3 and 4 flute. What I found was that in metal, no matter what the depth, feed rate and stepover, the multi-fluted bits would cut, but they all made the metal so hot that the super glue I was using on blue tape to hold the workpiece to the waste board would give out and the piece would go flying. I finally tried a 1 flute bit, like the Amana 51488-Z, and it cut well and added very little heat to the work piece. I use that bit for the outside edge of my medallions. For the bitmap cutting, I use V-bits, like the Amana 45624. The key feeds and speeds that seem to work are:
Amana 51488-Z: pass depth .01, stepover .0125, feed rate 8 in/min
Amana 45624 : pass depth .01, stepover .03, feed rate 12 in/min
The V bits are much more robust, and can be driven harder than the little 1/8 and 1/16 straight bits. I have a bit more refining to do -- my first goal was to get good cuts without breaking the $40 bit. I can do that pretty well with the indicated speeds, but they can probably be pushed up a bit from there.

Hope that is of use to you. What machine do you have? What sorts of things do you cut?
Thanks for the info. The one piece missing is the RPM for each. It would be interesting to know the chipload compared to mfg recommendations.
 

tri4sale

Daniel
Corporate Member
It seems a little heretical to share some experience with cutting metal on my favorite woodworking site, but the skills overlap, and maybe others have been branching out as well.
After a good experience making small wooden boxes to sell at a Renaissance Faire, I decided to try to make some medallions out of 1/8" think brass. The methods I used to make my wooden projects applied, but I found that, of course, the feeds and speeds needed to be different, changing from wood to metal. Anyway, after some experimentation, I got some stuff that I like, and we will see next year if the Faire dwellers can find some use in them. All designed using V-Carve, and cut on an X-Carve machine.

very cool, where are you getting your brass from? I've always wanted to try that on my ShopBot
 

China Woody

New User
John
Thanks for the info. The one piece missing is the RPM for each. It would be interesting to know the chipload compared to mfg recommendations.
The standard cutter on the X-Carve is the DeWalt 611 router. The speed range on that unit is 16,000 to 27,000 rpm, which is too fast for most projects. So everybody you ask with that equipment just says "I leave it on setting 1." So, even though it is fast, using the 611 at 16,000 rpm usually works. I rarely run it faster. It of course would be a different matter if you were using something more than a hobby grade machine.
 

China Woody

New User
John
Daniel & Michael,
I've been using flat C360 brass stock, 1/8 thick, 2inches wide by 1 foot long. If you do an Ebay search like this:
2 pieces 1/8" x 2" c360 brass flat bar 12" long solid .125" plate mill stock h02
You should find the guy I have been buying from. He is reliable and fast, and the stock he sends is always clean and exactly to spec. Used to be about $12 per foot-long bar, but I notice that the price has gone up to about $15.
I usually cut the stock in half, length-wise, and use the 6inch piece to make 3 medallions, each about 2 inches in diameter.
Now, if you want to really get into it --- my son and I experimented a while back with a home made furnace, melting brass scrap and pouring it into home made molds. It was turning out 3/16inch blanks, which I then cut on the X-Carve. In the pictures of the medallions above, the one with Saint George was a home made blank. But then I got lazy -- it's a whole lot easier to just buy the stock online.
 

Attachments

  • Brass Casting.JPG
    Brass Casting.JPG
    2.8 MB · Views: 108
  • Home made mold.JPG
    Home made mold.JPG
    3 MB · Views: 101

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