Another Newbie

[Chris J]

Hiya

I wanted to get a CNC mill/router and thought here would be a good place to start.

My wife makes brooches out of 1mm thick copper sheets.
At the moment she cuts the shape out with a hand fret saw, this takes ages and costs an absolute fortune in blades.

So I'm thinking that there must be a better solution to this, I'm thinking that a CNC machine would allow me to knock a sheet of these out easilly and earn me much needed brownie points.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

I have looked at something like this, any good ?

[John S]

Copper is an absolute bitch to machine, dead gummy and just wants to weld itself to the tool. Have you given any thought to a plasma cutter?
All depends on the amount of detail needed.

[mocha]

Hi Chris,

You don't mention if the designs are simple or complex, but have you tried the band saw / jigsaw or sander type route? If they are all the same design, a Flypress? It might work out cheaper? (more brownie points too! :-)

[Chris J]

Copper is an absolute bitch to machine, dead gummy and just wants to weld itself to the tool. Have you given any thought to a plasma cutter?
All depends on the amount of detail needed.

I did think about a plasma cutter but wondered if I'd need to have a water flow ?
Would it cut neater.

Hi Chris,

You don't mention if the designs are simple or complex, but have you tried the band saw / jigsaw or sander type route? If they are all the same design, a Flypress? It might work out cheaper? (more brownie points too! :-)

If you imagined a flower shape cut on a 2" square or something like this.
Terrible picture sorry, it's about 3" wide.

Too fiddly for a bandsaw I think and too varied for a press.

[Jonathan]

You don't mention if the designs are simple or complex, but have you tried the band saw / jigsaw or sander type route?

The issue with a bandsaw and difficult to cut materials is new blades will cost about £6-£8 and may not last longer than much cheaper blades for fret saws.

I didn't have problems when cutting 5mm thick copper on my CNC router, but maybe I just got lucky.

Roughly many of these broaches is your wife making? If they're all different shapes then a fly-press wont be cost effective, but getting them laser/plasma cut might be? If you do cut them on a router you're in danger of making her redundant as the router can of course do all the engraving...

[Chris J]

The issue with a bandsaw and difficult to cut materials is new blades will cost about £6-£8 and may not last longer than much cheaper blades for fret saws.

I didn't have problems when cutting 5mm thick copper on my CNC router, but maybe I just got lucky.

Roughly many of these broaches is your wife making? If they're all different shapes then a fly-press wont be cost effective, but getting them laser/plasma cut might be? If you do cut them on a router you're in danger of making her redundant as the router can of course do all the engraving...

She doesn't make a huge amount more to do with the time it takes to cut them out.
Engraving Mmm at the moment she enamels them.

[Chris J]

The issue with a bandsaw and difficult to cut materials is new blades will cost about £6-£8 and may not last longer than much cheaper blades for fret saws.

I didn't have problems when cutting 5mm thick copper on my CNC router, but maybe I just got lucky.

Roughly many of these broaches is your wife making? If they're all different shapes then a fly-press wont be cost effective, but getting them laser/plasma cut might be? If you do cut them on a router you're in danger of making her redundant as the router can of course do all the engraving...

What was the power and speed of the router motor when you cut the 5mm ?
Was it on a CNC machine ?
Thanks

[Chris J]

.....I didn't have problems when cutting 5mm thick copper on my CNC router, but maybe I just got lucky......

Jonathan, what machine / cutter did you use to cut the 5mm sheet please ?

Chris

[Jonathan]

Jonathan, what machine / cutter did you use to cut the 5mm sheet please ?

Chris

See here:

http://www.mycncuk.com/forums/showth...ooling-system/

The outer profile and 2mm wide slot were on my CNC router and the 0.5mm slots were cut with a slitting saw on the milling machine. To be honest I can't remember which cutters I used. Probably these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5x-6mm-Car...item20b95dbb6d

The same seller has plenty of smaller ones too...

[Chris J]

See here:

http://www.mycncuk.com/forums/showth...ooling-system/

The outer profile and 2mm wide slot were on my CNC router and the 0.5mm slots were cut with a slitting saw on the milling machine. To be honest I can't remember which cutters I used. Probably these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5x-6mm-Car...item20b95dbb6d

The same seller has plenty of smaller ones too...

Brilliant, thanks