Cutting/Sanding Brass?

[esion]

Hey everyone, I was around in 1.0 forums but stopped working on my boats for over a year.  A couple weeks ago I picked it back up in hopes to power through some tough steps.

 

Quick background:  I am working on some brass rudder parts and the plans show a much more intricate pieces than what was provided.  The provided pre-cut brass is straight and square on the corners where the plans and pictures show a tapered and rounded corners final product.

 

Quick Question: What is the best way to shape the brass?  Cutting then sanding?  What are people using to cut and sand brass?  Is there a trick to "refinish" the brass after sanding?

 

Thanks!

[BareHook]

Brass is pretty easy to shape and work with, being a soft metal. You can trim, sand, or hammer it to get what you want.  With regards to finishing, it can be repolished with a dremel but would need a clearcoat of paint to keep from oxidizing. Brass is usually representative of "iron" parts on a ship and would be chemically blackened or painted black. If you search in the section for painting and finishing, there are several threads on blackening metal.

 

Ken

[esion]

Is there a special sand paper?  I used normal 220 grit and it seemed to do nothing to it.  Maybe I could use a dremel and that might be better than me sanding it by hand.

 

Thanks for the suggestions.

[BareHook]

Normal sandpaper should be fine, but when edge sanding it may only be effective at deburring a trimmed edge. The narrow edge will tend to cut through the abrasive on the paper and leave a groove where the sand is gone.

[michael mott]

Esion, As ken has mentioned Brass is fairly soft and can easily be shaped with small files. this brass was shaped with small files.

 

 

 

 

then using the 220 that you mentioned it was polished up and steel wool for a final finish.

The most difficult part of working with small pieces of brass is holding them while you reshape or polish them, if you have a small hand vice it can be really helpful along with some needle files.

 

The needle files can usually be purchased at craft or hobby shops, the best quality ones can be purchased at a jewlery supply house.

 

Michael

[Mahuna]

Michael - very nice work!  

 

As a final step after shaping and sanding, I use a cloth wheel and jeweler's rouge on a 'dremel' device to polish the brass.

 

Frank

[esion]

So last night I broke out a small wire cutter and my files.  That seemed to work the best to get a rough cut, but I still feel like my sand paper does nothing at all to get the fine tuning of the pieces.

 

Tonight I will use a dremel and see if that makes the process go faster.

[jud]

Mahuna. I address this to you and posted it here because It might be something that others will find useful, not only as a polish but as a blade finishing tool. Jewelers rouge is something I use, it has been the ruby colored stick which is very fine, just picked up a green colored stick of rouge at a Saddle Makers show to try,  recommendation of a knife maker who said it was more aggressive than the ruby colored rouge, haven't  fixed up a board for the green yet. For the ruby rouge I shaped a 1" X 4" pine board so it had a handle with a hole and a leather thong for hanging, it is about 12" long, used contact cement to glue a piece of saddle skirting leather on and rouged her up. I made it for head knives and also swivel knives but other blades find their way to it for a final edge polish which seems to reduce friction for a cleaner and an easier to control cut.

jud

Edited November 22, 2013 by jud

[bizibilder]

Files are the tools to use for shaping and finishing brass (or other metals).  Abrasive papers are really only for finishing and polishing.

A useful trick when making small brass parts is to leave them attached to the "parent" stock so that you have something to hold whilst working on them. Sometimes with pre-made parts, especially if they are very small, it could be worth soldering them to a big "holding piece" to work on them (or epoxy/glue/tape them if you don't like soldering).  When complete you can un-solder them (or break the epoxy bond) and file them clean before you use them on your model.

[esion]

Thanks for all the help everyone.  Last night I used the dremel to get to a quick rough design, then files to finish it out.  It is true that the hardest part was figuring out how to hold them, but I powered through.  On to the next step.

[rhephner]

Forgive me for resurrecting this topic, but esion and I seem like we're working on the same project at the same level. I started playing with brass last night to make rudder hinges and gunport hinges and had a heck of a time cutting the brass in thin stips about 1mm wide. I eventually was able to do it running a #11 exacto blade over and over the .25mm brass sheet and then bending, but the result came out a little banged up.

 

I also tried wire cutters, but it's difficult to tell where I'm cutting with something that small. Is there a better way? Am I missing something, or is this one of those things you just have to use brute force for? 

 

Rich

[Mahuna]

Hi Rich:

 

A paper cutter can be used to cut strips from thin brass or copper.  The strip will curl, but can be straightened by putting one end in a vise and then pulling the other end while holding it in a pliers.

 

The best solution is to buy strips in the size you need.  Hobby stores usually stock a good selection of sizes, or you can find them online at the following link:

 

http://www.specialshapes.com/flatbarsbrass.html

 

Frank

[dgbot]

If this is being done by hand and you are having problems with a blade and straight edge sandwich the brass between two thin sheets of wood with contact cement.  then using a fine tooth razor saw exacto, Zona etc and place it against a straight edge and you will get a decent cut.  Use some mkineral speirits or acetone to remove the wood and you are done.

David B

[mtaylor]

You might try softening the brass as it work hardens when you work on it.  Heat it red hot and let it cool. 

[michael mott]

Rich since you are only cutting short lengths, you can also use a jewelers saw to cut the brass.

 

The particular strip of .25mm brass was originally cut from a standard KS sheet of brass that you can purchase at the hobby shops. I needed some strips that were 3/8th by .010" which is basically the same as .25mm. I cut the bit strips on the table saw some time ago, by sandwiching the sheet between some plywood and using a sled. but that is another kettle of fish.

 

Here is a step by step I just did to show what I mean using the jewelers saw.

 

1 tape the .25mm ( .010") to the edge of a piece of thin wood, leaving the 1mm+ overhanging the edge, this gives the metal a lot of support

 

 

2 using the finest blade you can find and then using a jewelers saw cut along the line holding the saw at an proximately 45 degree angle this makes the teeth seem closer together, (it's the geometry)

 

 

cut with a smooth and gentle motion

 

 

 

The set up of the camera took much longer than the cut which took about 30 - 40 seconds

 

 

 

Anything much thinner than this you can cut with a good pair of scissors, in fact I did cut a small strip off the end of this brass strip with a pair of scissors.

 

Michael

Edited April 23, 2014 by michael mott

[rhephner]

Wow. Thanks All. This gives me some great leads. I have a jeweler's saw, so I'll start there and see where it takes me. I appreciate the comments.

 

This is an attempt to kick my modeling up to the next level by making my own metal parts. It's all a prelude to where I hope to be in a few years, scratch building warships.

 

Rich

[Richard Griffith]

In addition to the above posts, I use my full sized band saw and 10" table saw.  Use blades with lots of teeth for the thin parts and blades with fewer teeth for stock like 3/16" and 1/4". 

Be sure to wear safety glasses and hearing protection.  I also wear work gloves for this procedure. 

And be sure to clamp the stock to a sacrifice board or to a holder of some sort.  You do not want a kick back with metal parts so use all normal safety procedures for these machines. 

[dafi]

Have a look at archjofos marvelous La Creole.

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/1029-la-créole-by-archjofo-scale-148-french-corvette-of-1827-scratch-build/page-2?hl=creole#entry22428

 

There are plenty of brass parts, mostly done without big equipment. Simply astonishing!

 

Cheers, Daniel