Cutting Brass, Which Blades

[IBMer]

I have a little project that I need to cut 1/8 inch thick brass plate.   I thought it would work ok on the scroll saw, but the vibrations were incredible.   I had to practically sit on top of the brass plate to hold it still ;-)    I also broke a half dozen blades.   I tried #5 and #7 blades but it broke them with equal enthusiasm.

By the way, in case you are wondering.  My mother melted the handles on both my espresso pots.   She tends to forget the burners on, often..  I sandwiched the brass plate between 2 wood handles and put brass screws through it to hold the parts in place.   It looks better than the original plastic, but cutting the brass plate is murder.  I have jewelry blades, but they are very thing and break instantly. 

What blade should I try, or should I give up on trying to use the Scroll Saw and move to a different tool?

John

[dgman]

Sounds like a job for a band saw with a fine metal cutting blade. 1/8" brass is just to thick for a scroll saw.

[GrayBeard]

You betchum, Kemosabe!

Way too thick for a scroll saw!

Fire up the bandsaw or the plasma cutter!

~~~GB~~~

[Fritz]

John,
It might help to temper the brass plate prior to cutting - heat it up with a torch and let it cool off, that should make the metal a little softer. I have successfully cut 1/8in brass with a metal-cutting (jeweller's) blade v e r y slowly.
Fritz

[mrsn]

1/8" is a little thicker then I have cut, but I have cut steel which should be harder.
I always sandwich the metal between a piece of wood on the top and bottom (usually 1/8" plywood or something similar. The sandwich cuts slower then all wood, but fairly nicely.

[MOONIE]

After much trial and error, I used FD Iron Man blades to cut 1/8 inch copper (I think) that had a very hard core.  Made a sandwich with 1/8 inch ply.  The work was slow and used alot of blades but the project came out real nice.

[jimbo]

Brass is soft and it should be OK but why don't you ask FD mike he will know and recommend the rite blade
Jimbo

[scrollsaw22]

John...I have cut brass pretty close to 1/8" thick, but used a #1 Jewelers blade (from Sloan's Woodshop) and go "very" slow.  Also found if you put a layer of masking tape on the top and bottom sides it gives the blade some lubricant to work with, just don't force it or it will break lots of blades.  Oh, also, slowed my saw to slowest so it would not heat up the blade so fast.  Really tricky as the metal gets thicker. Good luck!

[IBMer]

I'm back at it, cutting brass sheet.    My FD jewelry blades work, but they break pretty steadily at about 3 inches of cutting.  So I go through 4 or 5 blades on an even small project.    I just ordered myself some of the FD blades made specific for cutting metal.   Looking forward to them arriving.

I've also found that gluing the brass onto a 1/2" thick piece of MDF board helps control the vibrations.   I used CA glue which holds great, but takes a long time of soaking in solvent to break lose.   I found that soaking it in Hot water for a few hours works just as quick since the MDF eventually becomes water logged and the brass pretty much falls off.

Will post after trying the FD blades for soft and hard metals.