Re: Mill Question - should I? or shouldn't I
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Kevin Groenke @ PersonMakeObject
Hey Tamra, I'll cut 1/8" and thicker non-ferrous metals on my tablesaw any day, but thinner stock is sketchy because there's only one tooth in the material at a time. Some time ago I had to cut some copper and recalled the paper cutter I had used a few minutes before. ??, that's like a metal shear I realized (duh!). I would think with some creative fixturing, it would be pretty easy to cut your 20-24ga copper quite accurately and efficiently with a simple guitilline style paper cutter. If you don't have one, consider this a great opportunity to pick one up and I assure you will find a myriad of uses for it. Cheers and make on!? -kevin
Before I assemble my unimat as a mill, can I mill this shape qty 50 rectangles with a unimat?
1-3/8" x 7/8" and 1- 11/16" x 1"
My friend has been making jewelry maybe 4 years now, specializing in enameling and she used a disc cutter to create her enamel palette...
(which is firing the enamels on copper over white flux, plain copper, silver foil, gold foil, etc, etc. to see how the color looks before you use it.)
This is likely a CNC? operation, as clearly this is very repeatable with a CNC.? Me being me, thinks 20 gauge or 24 gauge copper is extremely thin and I don't understand why I cannot cut it with a table saw?? Clearly, I know I can cut 260 brass with a jewelry saw and my own hand.? Surely a table saw is practical and fast?
I am missing something, of course the cool tool folks have every right to sell die cutters for $144, but I got these cool tool...?!??
It is probably more of an issue of how to hold something so thin, and not messing up what is holding the not even 1 mm thickness of copper or sterling.
Recently, I did an experiment to see if my Cricut Maker3 that advertises it will cut 1/16" basswood, would cut 1/32" oak veneer.? It failed.? I'm 100% sure I can cut veneer on a dremel, preac or micro mark table saw.? (Well if I would go look for the micro mark table saw, but it is still cold to be in the basement too long.)?
I should actually try and see if the Cricut will cut basswood, all that you do is tape it to the mat, and load the pattern, turn on machine and press cut, but I can't seem to concentrate long enough to do this task... traveling to the world's largest miniature show next week!
Friend told me that I did not want to cut real sterling silver with my table saw as I would loose silver to saw kerf, but the cost of copper is not nearly the cost of sterling silver.? I will reclaim my silver, I have a kiln...
I have a couple of projects that I would love to create in enamels, like a fireplace screen in miniature, or lampshade.... and OMG,? some stained glass windows! so I'm thinking of making these palettes, myself.? (I did actually attempt to enamel a silver vase, many years ago in miniature... this clearly will require some practice) flat surface, much easier to control.
Tamra
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