Hey guys, have any of you successfully cut copper/brass sheet with your lead machine? I'm hoping to cut out shapes from sheets of these softer metals and wanted to see if you had any recommended bits, feeds and speeds, and materials and where to source. I've never done anything like this, any tips would be welcome. Thanks!
Copper's grabby, especially when it's thin. Google specific speeds and feeds for it, end mill geometry, all that stuff, because it depends on what you're doing and what hardness of sheet you're buying, etc. Brass cuts like a dream though, that's why we use it for testing, just do the same settings you would in aluminum but use lower-rake tooling like something for stainless or something. This will cause higher cutting forces so you'll have to compensate your MRR, but if you use aluminum cutting geometries it can get grabby. And be careful if you're using coolant, copper and brass tend to react more strongly, you could see some corrosion in places on your machine over time.
