Hi. I need assistance with cutting copper alloy C110 that is Full Hard temper.
I have a custom CNC machine with a circular saw blade. I am cutting multiple pieces of copper in a run. The blade is only cutting in a straight line. I am using a carbide blade. Problem I am having is part way through a run, the blade just suddenly breaks (being a carbide blade, it breaks into many pieces). I am not sure what is causing the blade to break. The copper item being cut produces many small pieces. After the blade breaks, I do notice some of these pieces are deformed, not sure if this happened as the blade broke or if a piece got pulled into the blade jamming it.
A few things I have noticed, the blade is not hot at all, and none of the cut copper is hot so I am assuming the cutting oil is doing its job well.. The blade teeth are still very sharp, and there is no copper material caught in the teeth. I have tried lowering the forward motion of the blade a bit from 5 inches per minute down to 3.75 inches per minute with no change. There is no noise or vibration before the blade breaks.
I am not sure what to do in this situation. When something like this occurs, is it best to lower the forward motion or increase it? Is the copper being clamped too tightly or not tight enough? The copper pieces are about 15 inches in length and this seems to be occurring in the middle area, between 5 to 10 inches in. Each run will have quite a few of these, and the first many are cut perfectly without issue. I am able to cut other metals without a problem including harder metals.
Any thoughts or suggestions on what to try in this situation to stop the blade from breaking would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.