Download the custom tool library for brass here.
What is brass?
Brass is an alloy of primarily copper and zinc. It’s desirable because it has a gold-like luster and color, a low enough melting point to be easily cast, and low friction. There are many kinds of brass alloys, each with different properties that make it suitable for different uses. Some alloys are very hard; some are different colors, such as silver; some resist corrosion; and some kill bacteria. Our favorite brass is 360 brass, also called free-machining brass because it’s hard enough to hold its shape but soft enough to machine easily.
What is brass used for?
Brass is used in an enormous number of ways: decorative trim, clockwork pieces, antibacterial bed rails, doorknobs, pipe fittings, sculptures and statues, ammunition casings, and spark-safe work areas.
Is brass safe?
Yes, if you don’t breathe or eat the swarf.
Where can I get brass?
We sell precut pieces of 360 brass in our store! They’re the perfect size for many projects, and they fit nicely on the Bantam Tools Desktop PCB Milling Machine bed. You can also find brass from many online metal suppliers.
What's the best way to fixture brass to the bed of my milling machine?
Brass is one of the harder materials in the milling machine’s repertoire, so more force is required to push the tool through the material. This means that proper fixturing is more important than with softer materials like wax or FR-1. If the fixturing isn’t strong enough to resist the higher cutting forces, the material can be knocked loose during milling, which can damage itself, the tool, and even the machine.
high-strength double-sided "Nitto" tape is a good option, and we recommend using tape in conjunction with the alignment bracket for extra rigidity. The Precision Fixturing and Toe Clamp Set is another option for thicker pieces of stock.
To use Nitto tape, place strips evenly across the underside of the material. Make sure there are no wrinkles in the tape or debris stuck to the tape. Then peel off the backing and press the material firmly down onto the machining bed.
Hot glue is another fixturing option for brass. To fixture your material with hot glue, place the material on the bed and then run a bead of glue around the bottom edge of the material where it meets the bed. If you use the alignment bracket, you only have to glue the sides that aren’t touching the bracket.
Note: Don’t put glue on the bottom of the material and then stick it down because this will make the material taller, which will cause your endmill to cut too deeply.
If you’re feeling ambitious, you can remove the spoilboard, attach the material with tape, drill holes in the material that align with the slots in the T-slot bed (see Dimensions and Diagrams), and then bolt the material to the bed with low-profile M5 bolts. This provides extremely strong fixturing.
What end mill should I use when milling brass?
Use the biggest tool you possibly can, to allow for the fastest material removal and least chance of tool breakage. The easiest tools to use are 1/8" and 1/16" flat or ball end mills.
Brass is one of the less forgiving materials, and it’s easy to break small tools with too high of a feed rate, inadequate fixturing, or simply having uneven material. The 1/8" and 1/16" end mills are very strong, and they can cut away a lot of material at once. That being said, any tool can be used to mill brass as long as the settings are correct and your material is flat.
What are some example projects?
Cloisonné Enameled Metal Trinkets
Tiny Brass Turbine
Recommended Feeds and Speeds
To make it easier to use these recommended feeds and speeds, we’ve created a way for you to quickly import into our software all the settings you see listed below. To do this, download the Brass Custom Tool Library, which contains all the recommended feeds and speeds for this material. Then open our software, click File > Tool Library, click the “Import” button, and select this file. Before using these settings, it’s a good idea to read through our Feeds and Speeds Guide.
Download the Brass Custom Tool Library here.
Note: The feeds and speeds below are optimized for the V2 Othermill. If you're using a Bantam Tools Desktop PCB Milling Machine, Othermill Pro, or Kickstarter Othermill, you may need to experiment to find optimal settings.
Tool: 1/8" flat end mill
Feed rate: 7.874 in/min (200 mm/min)
Plunge rate: 0.656 in/min (16.66 mm/min)
Spindle speed: 12,000 RPM
Max pass depth: 0.003" (0.07 mm)
Tool: 1/16" flat end mill
Feed rate: 7.874 in/min (200 mm/min)
Plunge rate: 0.656 in/min (16.66 mm/min)
Spindle speed: 12,000 RPM
Max pass depth: 0.003" (0.07 mm)
Tool: 1/32" flat end mill
Feed rate: 7.874 in/min (200 mm/min)
Plunge rate: 0.656 in/min (16.66 mm/min)
Spindle speed: 12,000 RPM
Max pass depth: 0.003" (0.07 mm)
Tool: 1/64" flat end mill
Feed rate: 1.575 in/min (40 mm/min)
Plunge rate: 0.157 in/min (4 mm/min)
Spindle speed: 12,000 RPM
Max pass depth: 0.001" (0.02 mm)
Tool: 1/100" flat end mill
Feed rate: 1.575 in/min (40 mm/min)
Plunge rate: 0.157 in/min (4 mm/min)
Spindle speed: 12,000 RPM
Max pass depth: 0.001" (0.02 mm)
Tool: Engraving bit
Feed rate: 7.874 in/min (200 mm/min)
Plunge rate: 0.656 in/min (16.66 mm/min)
Spindle speed: 12,000 RPM
Max pass depth: 0.003" (0.07 mm) Keep in mind the engraving tool has a variable width, depending on your “engraving cut depth.” The deeper the cut, the wider the tool. The shallower the cut, the narrower the tool. If you’re using an engraving tool and the generated path isn’t cutting part of your SVG file, try reducing the engraving cut depth.
Advanced Feeds and Speeds
Warning: These settings are for advanced users. Before using any of the information provided here, you must read the section above on fixturing your material, and you must have a way of precisely measuring your material thickness (we recommend digital calipers). The feeds and speeds specified here are more aggressive (and thus faster), and improperly fixtured material can be knocked loose and damage itself and your machine. Additionally, the material surface needs to be completely flat, or else 1/32", 1/64", and 1/100" end mills will break when they encounter part of the material that is sticking up.
Lastly, if you’re using tools smaller than 1/16", you must make sure that the tool is removing the correct amount of material on the first pass, or else your tool may cut too deep and break. All subsequent passes will be correct, but the first pass can be affected by anomalies like tape thickness, burrs on the material edges, and material warping, all of which can increase the height of the material surface, causing the tool to cut too deep.
Tool: 1/8" flat end mill
Feed rate: 59 in/min (1500 mm/min)
Plunge rate: 5 in/min (127 mm/min)
Spindle speed: 16,400 RPM
Max pass depth: 0.002" (0.05 mm)
Tool: 1/16" flat end mill
Feed rate: 59 in/min (1500 mm/min)
Plunge rate: 5 in/min (127 mm/min)
Spindle speed: 16,400 RPM
Max pass depth: 0.002" (0.05 mm)
Tool: 1/32" flat end mill
Feed rate: 59 in/min (1500 mm/min)
Plunge rate: 5 in/min (127 mm/min)
Spindle speed: 16,400 RPM
Max pass depth: 0.002" (0.05 mm)
Tool: 1/64" flat end mill
Feed rate: 30 in/min (381 mm/min)
Plunge rate: 1 in/min (25 mm/min)
Spindle speed: 16,400 RPM
Max pass depth: 0.001" (0.02 mm)
Tool: 1/100" flat end mill
Feed rate: 5 in/min (127 mm/min)
Plunge rate: 0.5 in/min (12.5 mm/min)
Spindle speed: 16,400 RPM
Max pass depth: 0.001" (0.02 mm)