Re: router for sheet metal

Hi Tony, Alex,

I have a similar need. A small flat spring for a digitizer probe I
built. I need a small flat spring made out of something like phosphor
bronze, or steel. .006" thick (??). But as it's only about .5" long,
it's a little hard to machine! Glueing/soldering it down to PCB
material might work. I will need a tiny endmill to mill it out, I can
generate the Gcode easily enough. I was also thinking that this flat
spring could also be made by EDM, although I have no equipment for this!

Perhaps glueing/soldering to PCB material would work in you case too
(let me know!).

Pix at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO/files/Digitizer%20Probe/ProbeSpring2.jpg

Look under files / Digitizer Probe / ProbeSpring2.jpg

Alan KM6VV
P.S. MSC doesn't carry silver solder (high temp)? Anyone have a
source? I've got crankshafts to fabricate!

Tony Jeffree wrote:

>
> However, there are always ways of surmounting these problems, depending
> upon quite what you have in mind, and how much time you have to do it.
>
> I have successfully milled out shapes in sheet brass to make clock parts; a
> good and perfectly practical method is to attach the sheet to a sacrificial
> plate of some kind with a suitable adhesive - for example, double sided
> tape on a block of MDF (Medium Density Fibreboard - that stuff that is
> supposed to generate carcinogens when you machine it). The only thing you
> have to watch is that the heat generated during cutting can weaken the
> adhesive if you cut too fast; however, the strategic use of a few screws
> through the scrap areas of the sheet can alleviate this problem.
>
> See:
>
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO/files/Tony%27s%20files/Clock2.jpg
>
> All of the brass sheet components of this movement (front and back plates,
> dial, wheels, & one or two others) were machined using the technique
> described above, using a Taig CNC mill and a 1/16" diameter end mill.
>
> Regards,
> Tony