Cutting shapes in aluminium sheet

Hello everyone

This is my first post here so please be gentle ;)
What I would like to do is cut small shapes from metal plates, mostly aluminium but at lower grades like 1050 and about 16gauge / 1.4mm thick as it would be used for jewellery.
It would be small designs and shapes, circles stars etc on average about 1" diameter.
Now I bought I found the perfect machine with a cheap Chinese cnc router but after a fair bit of reading it would seem that it's not the best machine for the job on softer metals.
Is there a machine out there that would be suitable for this? Have a budget of about 2-3000.

Thanks very much

I'd focus more on how you'll hold the sheets down more so than the actual machines your looking at, as almost any of the machines commonly available would be fine.

The problem you'll have is how to hold the sheet down while machining. This is not trivial by any means. You can get upcut/downcut cutters, whatever you need, but if the sheet vibrates or can move even minutely while machining, it will give rough results or end in tool bits being grabbed and snapped. The thickness and grades available further complicates this.

cheers, Ian

Hi Jmac

It is not so much a matter of the machine as the metal. Cutting shapes out of 1000-series aluminium would have to be one of the more horrible tasks. The very soft aluminium clags up the cutters very fast, and then you get a melt-down and the cutter snaps.
Even 5000-series aluminium is difficult.

Cheers

thanks guys, how about a small desktop laser cutter? is there such a thing in this price range?

To be sure.
It might cut aluminium kitchen foil.

Cheers

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RCaffin

To be sure.
It might cut aluminium kitchen foil.

Cheers

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Thanks
so how on earth do people cut stuff like this from thin 1000 series aluminium

Aluminum Metal Blanks 20 Gauge Hearts for Hand Stamped Jewelry 20mm | eBay

5 Metal Stamping Blanks 20 Gauge Aluminum Washers for Hand Stamped Jewelry 3 4" | eBay

Aluminum Metal Blanks 20 Gauge 1 2" Blanks for Hand Stamped Jewelry | eBay

As the ad says: 'metal hand stamped jewelry'.
Stamped out with a punch and die (at that price!).
Maybe he stuck the punch and die in something like a small manual press and hand-stamped them, or maybe he just fibbed.

Pretty soft stuff, 1000-series, and only 20 guage.

Cheers

The "metal hand stamped jewelry" means it's for hand stamping with, this is what my wife does, stamps designs / fonts etc on to these blanks.
but i understand what you are saying, they are punched out... any machine i can get get to do this for my budget?

thanks for taking the time with me RCaffin heh

Quite a few punch-press systems around. But what you would really need are the punch&die sets. They are probably wire-cut. And the press needs to keep them very rotationally aligned.

You could TRY making your own: the steel would not need to be very hard given the soft aluminium you are talking about. But you would not be able to get sharp inside corners; you would be limited to the radius of the milling cutter used. No, you do NOT want to try using 1 mm cutters at the start!

All told, buying a box load of blanks for your wife might be cheaper. Sorry.

Cheers

ok thanks for that
what we loved was the idea of making our custom shapes, that's why a cnc router looked great (at first) until i read a bit more into it.
How about a variable speed scroll saw, usually used for wood but does cut thin metals.

like so: Cutting metal with a scroll saw - YouTube

Good for larger shapes, but you would need to clean up the cut edges with a file. For 20 gauge, you might be better off with some short solid snips and patterns stuck on.

For small shapes - could be a bit boring! But snips would still work.

Question is: how many do you want to make? 2? No worries. 20? um ...

Cheers

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RCaffin

Good for larger shapes, but you would need to clean up the cut edges with a file. For 20 gauge, you might be better off with some short solid snips and patterns stuck on.

For small shapes - could be a bit boring! But snips would still work.

Question is: how many do you want to make? 2? No worries. 20? um ...

Cheers

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Thanks
well i would me making into the hundreds for my partner, then 100s and hopefully thousands more over time for my wifes friends who share her hobby!
asked a woman selling these 18 gauge aluminium shapes on ebay how she cuts them and she tells me laser!
no small laser machine in my budget? even a cheap style Chinese one that would cut up to 16 gauge aluminium?

Quote:

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she tells me laser!

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Blimey. That's an expensive way to cut out circles! The running costs are not low.

Most of the cheap Chinese laser machines will MARK aluminium and Perspex, and will do wood burning. You need to read the specs very closely to see just what the machine could do.

If you want to sell hundreds or more, then you should look at the cost of wire EDM to make punch and die sets. It may be too high - dunno. Or, with some training, you could use a small CNC to make them yourself out of steel - but no sharp corners. One thing: if you are stamping out 20 gauge Al, the die does not need to be either super-hard or very deep.

Caution: embarking on CNC can be an all-consuming addiction. :-)

Cheers
Roger

You could look at this beast. I have no idea whether it could cut your aluminium or not. Have to ask.
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/new_pr...e_sin-20u.html

Equally, I have NO idea how well it works or how reliable it might be. Chinese: yer takes yer chances.

Cheers
Roger