cutting thin sheet

I am tryig to make the component in the photo, any thoughts on what tooling and methods?

Thanks,

Woka

My method would be to super glue three pieces to gether to give strength and then file and drill to size.

Once parted off by boiling to break the superglue, the centre one should be clean and burr free - and straight

Edited By John Stevenson on 11/11/2012 12:02:08

I would agree with John. If you try to drill one slice of material you will likely get a triangular hole, especially on the larger ones. Use a good quality superglue, not a Poundland 'five for'.

Regards

Terry

Soft solder it to a bit of scrap and melt it off when done.

Hi Jason,

Wouldn't it take a bit of cleaning up though if it is to be a component on view, say in a Stirling cycle engine which appears to be the sort of application from the drawing.

Regards

Terry

You are going to end up having to drawfile it either to get rid of the remaining superglue or solder and to get a nice finish on the part so makes little difference. A solder joint where the parts are wiped and then sweated together wil have a ver thin film of solder.

Another option would be to make it on the edge of a bit of 6mm stock and then cut it off with a slitting saw and this would allow a harder brass to be used as a lot of sheet is soft brass but extrusions hard brass.

J

If I was doing it I'd clamp the sheet between two pieces of ply, drill the holes and then clamp through the holes and then use a fret saw to cut the shape out. Possibly finishing the edges with a little bit of filing / sanding.

Regards Mex

It

This is worth a try on a bit of scrap the same thickness as whatever you are using. Get the drill really sharp by the six facet method if possible. clamp the work and make a dimple in it. Take a piece of cloth and fold it in four and put it in the dimple and gently finish the hole.

'

Thanks for the the advice so far, It is indeed for a Stirling engine. I received the plans from Jan Ridders. I have made a few of the components (and botched as many) so far. This one looks a bit beyond my limited skills/experience, but that's OK, I have the time.

I appreciate you all giving me the benefit of your knowledge.

Thanks again,

Wokauk

Wokauk,

Hi Wokauk

Firstly wecome,

My grandson built a stirling oh some years ago, works great. Used mostly ally. could I recomend you look at the Stirling web site they also have loads of books from useing tin cans onwards. , What part of the world are you in as we had planned to make a batch but his interests turned to girls, cars, you name it. so if you want some already machined flywheels etc; you are welcome. can even give you copies of the drawings. (by email)
Good luck
Bob

Hello there.

Just as Michael posted above, why not go with carbon fibre sheet? See here or search Google for carbon fibre sheet.

All the best