Cutting thick copper plate?

[tomplum]

I want to cut out a custom floor register out of copper. ~6" x 12" in an area with foot traffic. I've never plasma cut thicker copper before. Does it cut similarly to plate steel? I'm weighing between getting 1/4" or 3/8" and laying a steel plate under it for support. It would be great to have thick piece of copper, I'd hate to mess that up...

 

[5030]

No and no.... Waterjet is the best bet.

 

[MossRoad]

Have you thought about cutting it out in steel and sending it somewhere to be copper plated?

 

[Diggin It]

Or making the structure steel and cladding it with copper flashing?

Or buying a ready made piece from a big box store and cladding it?

 

[Peter 315]

Copper Floor Register to Accent Your Copper Accessories

 

[grsthegreat]

Ive tried cutting copper with plasma table...was not impressed. Personally I’d buy one off amazon or eBay or ?

 

[tomplum]

Yeah, wanted to do something kind of artsie that would stand up. Anodizing the steel may be the best bet I'd think. Good stuff to ponder from you all. Thanks guys.

 

[CADplans]

Read the threads about guys trying to remove powder coat,,
it is almost impossible to remove, even if you want to,,,

Cut it out of steel, have it powder coated the color that you want,, even copper,,
The powder coat will resist floor traffic far better than copper,,, also,, :thumbsup:

Don't come back complaining when you can not get the powder coat off ,,, though!! :laughing:

 

[yomax4]

Copper can be tough to cut with plasma. Cutting is actually super fast oxidization and copper doesn't like to oxidize fast. I like to work with it and often use a bandsaw and a router table with a single cut carbide bur in it.

 

[caver]

We would use a bandsaw at work to cut heavy copper buss bars.

 

[radios1]

a milling machine will do this nicely.. ask a machine shop.

 

[4570Man]

No bigger than it is a jig saw would probably work and clean it up with a file.

 

[Fallon]

As others have noted, copper is soft & will scratch or bend easily. I wouldn't put it in a high traffic area. Copper clad or plated steel maybe.

 

[Ortimber]

a milling machine will do this nicely.. ask a machine shop.

30% of my business is machining copper. It does not machine well at all, with the exception of a few alloys specifically designed for machinability (tellurium copper). The cost of this would be significant. A water jet would be my choice for cutting shapes in plate.

 

[dragoneggs]

Copper can be tough to cut with plasma. Cutting is actually super fast oxidization and copper doesn't like to oxidize fast. I like to work with it and often use a bandsaw and a router table with a single cut carbide bur in it.

Thanks for the explanation. I just assumed plasma would work fine due to good conductivity and relatively low melting point.

 

[BukitCase]

The problem with that theory is that copper ALSO conducts HEAT as well or better than it does current; that can be useful, but not for cutting. The vacuum arc melt furnaces I used to work on in rare metals plants used copper crucibles, some up to 40" diameter and 16 feet long - titanium, zirconium, hafnium were done in these furnaces, niobium (2470 C) and tungsten (3400 C) in other types.

Copper's melting point is 1080 C, titanium's is 1670 C, and zirc is 1855 C - the ONLY way we got away with melting metals 800 degrees C hotter than the crucible could stand, was by using a high volume water jacket OUTSIDE the crucible. The water was recirculated thru cooling towers that used typically 200-300 horsepower fans to power the heat exchangers.

If it wasn't for copper's high HEAT transfer, there woulda been a constant mushroom-shaped cloud over the plant

We had a separate copper weld shop, usually kept 3 weldors busy - that was the LAST shop a REALLY good weldor worked in before retiring. AFTER they'd mastered welding nearly every other metal known to man... Steve

 

[ArlyA]

I'll give a historical point here. When they where mining copper here in the Keweenaw which went from 1845 to about 1996. The mines would run into what called "flow copper" pieces that were occasionally quite large. These were nearly pure copper and some weighted more than 50 tons and of course, not fit into the lifts. So the mines would directed there miners to cut them into pieces that would fit. Doing the math, they figured out that all the time it took to cut them down was not cost effect, so they discontinued the practice and just mined around them.. Copper does not like to be cut.

Do like my industrial history.