Brass, bronze and silver jewelry

Hi there!
I am a former sustainability consultant and newly jewelry designer. I quitted my job in May to become a full time jeweler :smile:
I purchased a Nomad 883 this spring and I recently launched my first jewelry line using the Nomad. You can see below a picture of the final jewelry. For some unknown reason, I can only post one picture because I’m a new user :disappointed:. I use mostly brass, bronze and silver sheets, 0.8mm thick. The Nomad really allows me to replicate multiple and identical units of the patterns and shapes I have in mind. Before, I used to do all the cuts by hand, which was a nightmare!
If you’re interested, you can see the complete collection here: www.camillette.com/random
or follow me on IG: @camillette_jewelry

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Looks really great. Is it cost effect to cut silver vs a mold?

Metalsmith here too–you can gather up the silver shavings each time and when you have enough, melt them down into something else, like another sheet of silver. :slight_smile:

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Thanks Chadw! I do the same as Spongefile, I keep the silver dust. There are also places that will buy precious metal scraps, like RioGrande. I haven’t done the math, but my feel is that when you reach a certain level of production, like producing hundreds of units, making a mold will probably be more cost effetive.

Camillette - Very nice pieces, photos, and story, thank you for posting- beautiful!
And thanks for posting your instagram acct, you have a new follower!
ps: Congratulations on quitting your job! Glad the Nomad could help. :wink:

Hi ApolloCrowe,
Thanks for the good works on my work, I appreciate it :slight_smile: I’ll try to post more pictures when I’ll have new pieces.

When cutting brass or silver, do you need to use a coolant liquid? Do you use cutting oil at all?

Hi Joseph,

Yes, I do use coolant. Especially for brass since it’s harder than silve. It extends the bit’s life.

Hi Camilette,
Your work is amazing, I’m a jeweler as well and just received my Nomad and want to make brass charms. Could you share what speed and feed you use? I will mostly be working with 20 and 22ga brass sheeting.

hi what end mills are you using for those silver stopper earnings?

Hi there,
I use those : https://www.precisebits.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=647&search=MN408-0313-006F#tab_tab-specification

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Hello! How much time does it take to cut a 35-40mm by 10-15mm silver sheet 0.8mm? I am looking for precise CNC for name plates and pendants, Thanks!

Hello there Kristiyan.
I think the time you’re going to see is going to vary depending on the shape and then also the features to be machined. Winston has some pretty good videos on this topic that I recommend you check out:


and

In the second video it looks like the total time is 37 minutes. That’s quite conservative, because he’s using a super small endmill that is more fragile, but also wont turn as much material into dust that might be hard to collect.
So if you were to do a simple square and also maybe a simple name engrave, the time might be similar, though could be faster with a larger bit for the cutout, and maybe a v-bit for the name engraving.
Hope this helps!

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Thank you for your answer Josh, 37 minutes for a name plate, unfortunately, is quite slow for my needs :confused:

Note that the Nomad 883 Pro has been replaced by the Nomad 3 — since it can turn the spindle quite a bit faster than the 10K of the machine it is replacing, for cuts in materials which allow it, it should be commensurately faster.

@wmoy would have to speak to the potential speed increase.

Additionally the geometries involved would impact time. Are you just engraving a name on pre cut blanks? That’s going to go pretty quick.
Are you doing something like the video showed, where a cutout on a lot of curved surfaces increase cutting time? That’s going to be similar to what is shown.
Also as I mentioned larger bits may be able to go more agressive, making cutting time shorter, but you’d have to weigh that against having to reclaim the small chips from the larger cutters.

I recommend reaching out to sales, or posting more clearly what you are wanting to do here so we can give you more accurate time frame.

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