FIRST METAL CUTTING

[amazingkevin]

Hey ya'll,this one started out tough and i did'nt thing i was going to get very far.I snapped two blades quick as a wink and had to figure out quick what the problem was.I used a piece of aluminum which turned out to be stainless steel!It was .60 thick.I guess that's 60 thousandth's.I used flying dutchmans jeweler blades FD-J#3 @45 teeth per inch andFD-J #3 @64 teeth per inch both are 3/0 blades.I started out with the 64 t.p.i. thinking the metal was aluminum but realized i was wrong.so i went to the 45 t.p.i. instead.Tha machine was tryed at various speeds because holding on to the keychain i could feel the heat build up quick with the 64 t.p.i. the 45 t.p.i. was much better at disapateing the head build up and run much cooler and the blade breakage stopped.The dw788 was finally set at 3.4 speed on the speed dial less than half way between the 3 and the 4 numbers.Doing detail in metal was fun and all the wood scrolling skills applyed here as well. Doing the letters were more fun and in the tight corners pushing back on the blade to make a turn was a breeze.The machine never slowed down and my cutting speed was like going thru a school zone at half speed.Susie got an oak keychain today .200 thick and broke it in seconds trying to put it on her key's.She wanted a thin one so that's what she got.Then i got a brain storm to try it in thin metal.So the rest is history and a first for me.I think coin cutting is in the very near future,maybe a susie cut into a quarter or half dollar for a neckless,who knows what i'll think of!

[realfEZ]

Good to see that someone made it there!

I'll try that as soon as I get my new ss.

Thank you so much for sharing the story Kevin, much useful information in your comment. ;°)

Cheers!

fEZ

[mikesscrollsaw]

That's nifty, never thought it would cut through metal. See I am always getting great new ideas from this site!!

 

Great job.

[Messman]

Nice job.

[amazingkevin]

Realfez, Mike and Chris Glad you liked the info.Lots of times i'd like someone to elaberate on what's going on in therir project so i can learn more but all we have to do is ask!I was excited at having another notch in my belt learning more things to do with a scroll saw. Wish i could take better pictures!

[Eagledrum70]

Very nice Kevin.

[amazingkevin]

Thanks Glenn,I'm happy i stuck my nose out and got my feet wet in metal cutting now!More coals in the fire now.I seen a metal version of the last supper on a wall in a office i was in last month. It Looked real nice and the copper ,aluminum and i forget what else colored metals intarsias looked real nice.I thought they had done there's with a tin snips,not thinking that it's possiabe to do it with a scroll saw.

[tbphotos]

A very nice job none the less, Kevin. I cut a wooden key chain for my wife a couple of months ago in 1/8" African Ebony (a very hard wood), but I think I drilled too small a hole for the key ring and it snapped right there at the key ring hole after a day or two. Live and learn.. I'll make a few more very soon, one for my neighbor Brian (a cabinetmaker) who has been so kind to me with suppling me with a lot of nice free wood.

[amazingkevin]

Thanks trevor,yeah the customers will but things thru the mill .You never know what they'll do to it .One lady dropped her keychain and it broke immediatly.Another broke a key chain by taking off the ring and snaped it.Another one took the ring off and painted the keychan with finger nail polish and when putting the ring back on broke the keychain.I replaced them all free just to make things good for them and keep them happy.accidents happen.out of 500 plus keychains that was the only problems i heard about.

[Clayton717]

looks good Kevin.

[DWSUDEKUM]

Looks good Kevin. Thing about metal is heat will kill your blade fast as anything. Practice a lot to get a better feel for what speed and blade that you need for each type of metal,

 

 

DW

[Oges]

Nice work Kevin, I was looking at my soda can when I was doing some cutting over the weekend and was wondering if it could be cut or not

[andy chew]

LOOKS GOOD! METAL IS A DIFFERENT CREATURE BUT IS WORTH THE REWARD

[amazingkevin]

Thanks Claytonand DW,your exactly right about speed and heat,the fine toothed blade heated up quick being thin soon softer metals it would be better i think!Brett that soda can should be a breese to cut,use a sissors to git it down to size and place between two pieces of wood to keep it flat and not damage it ,then cut the pattern you put on top of the wood .tape the wood together too.andy you hit the nail on the head there,now all that's history till the next time where i'll be useing a differant metal and have tolearn all over again the idiosyncrasies of that metal and blades!thanks everybody for looking and commenting !

[montgomery0]

Kevin, this was a fun project story to read this morning. Gotta chuckle at your demise, thinking you had aluminum. Stainless is some of the most brutal stuff to cut. I admire your persistance, the piece turned out nice.

[amazingkevin]

Thanks Mark ,That's one thing no one can take from you is experience!And being a handyman ,tradesman all my life ,my job is fixing other people's problem's,lol.solveing my own are the tough one's lol.Thanks for looking and commenting and glad you got a smile out of my hardship's lol.Reading this was better than the daily news!Can you believe the guy that had this small piece of scrap would not give me two pieces.he said he sells them for scrap at the scrap yard.I told him it was worth 1 or 2 penny's whats the problem.He would'nt budge though.My friend owns the sign store and was'nt there other wise he would say take all you want.He usually gives the whole 55 gallon barrel to the homeless shopping basket people!When the going gets tough the tough get going!

[wombatie]

I bought metal cutting blades and a book on the subject about 5 years ago and never used either of them, never know one day they may get used.

 

Get work on the key ring Kevin, well done.

 

Marg