Hey y’all! I bought a Nomad 883 Pro in order to start an Afrofuturistic jewelry brand out of my apartment nearly 2 years ago, and I’m thankful for all the things I’ve been learning while lurking on this forum. I usually work in 20 gauge sheet metal (or thinner), and have spent time milling pieces at volume levels that my current housemates and landlord (who lives right downstairs) feel comfortable with. So far, I’ve worked with copper, brass, bronze, pewter and aluminum. Some day I’d like to try out mokume gane and other precious metals. Below is a pic of me wearing my most recent Nomad creation, a brass headpiece that I call the Glitchweaver Headcrest. If anyone has questions about my process or setup, I’d be happy to share! You can see more of my work @ www.blackmarzian.com & on Instagram @blackmarzian.
Fantastic! I’ve been cutting intricate patterns on my nomad in brass and recently in pewter and it’s superb in its accuracy. Great to see such an application.
How are you finishing your brass? I’ve used a jewellery tumbler recently and it seems to work well.
You are a striking individual, btw! Welcome to the community!
Thank you! I am continuously impressed with how accurate the Nomad is. It has definitely encouraged me to invest my time in making intricate patterns.
I usually finish my brass with wire brushing + a sanding pass or two using at least 2500 grit sandpaper. I prefer a medium level of shininess on my pieces, so I only reach for the 15, 000 grit on special occasions. For items that need it, I smooth over the hard edges with Vallorbe needle files/a burnishing tool. I also have a jewelry tumbler that I use with steel shot, but for my particular ‘restored artifact’ aesthetic I mostly prefer the look that hand polishing gives.
Good advice! My process is very similar. I find scotchbrite to be better than a wire brush to get that rough look that’s not too rough.
Ooh! I haven’t tried scotchbrite yet, I think that might be a game-changer for me. Wire brushes don’t quite achieve the look I’m going for, so I’m eager to see how using scotchbrite goes.
Do you have a preferred method for sheet metal work-holding? The Nitto Permacel tape I use is great at the holding part, but it leaves a residue on pieces that takes a considerable amount of time to scrape off!
Scotchbrite was an eye-opener for me. It’s amazing. I recommend it thoroughly for getting the grime off the metal and giving it a “brushed metal” look with three or four swipes.
I use blue tape and super glue for mounting because of the difficulty in removing residue. It’s much easier than double-sided tape.
Amazing! Also your insta is great! Super thanks for sharing!
The machine in the background of your post on your website “making bracelets…at last” isn’t a Nomad. What kind of machine shop are you running LOL?
well, I’m trying to build a home-based machine shop through which I can provide fabrication services/learning resources for folks with limited access to the world of machining. Having two CNC mills has definitely been helping me flesh out this idea, as I can have that other machine dedicated to my exploratory work, and the Nomad dedicated to teaching & fulfilling orders. When I’m not using the Nomad for others, it’s nice to use both machines at the same time to cut out multiple pieces in different metals. [Edit: I also have an inexplicable desire to be surrounded by machinery lol]
I thank you kindly for this information! I’ve got some scotch-brite, blue tape and super glue on the way. I’ll be happy just to not dread scraping grime off metal all the time!
Nice. Congrats for making me look up “mokume gane”.
Mokume gane is beautiful, though from what I understand, jewellery made from it can corrode erratically since it is almost an anode-cathode layering of metals an if copper is used it quickly dissolves when there are free ions from salts etc.
If anyone is a student of Japanese, or has any interest in how different cultures model the world through language, mokume-gane (木目金) means tree-eye-gold/metal. Tree-eye refers to the grain of wood, and metal… well, that’s obvious.
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