wood bandsaw cutting thin metal?

[James Baker SD]

I need to cut a sheet of 0.015" brass and wonder if a Laguna LT-18 wood bandsaw could handle this with a fine tooth blade? Don't want to damage the saw or the blade, but fear an oscillating saw (like a handheld jigsaw will bend the thin sheet material too much for it to be useful (I need a very flat, smooth finished piece). I know it is not ideal, but wonder if I can get away with it in this situation? I would support the brass with a thin sheet of plywood underneath it to try to mimic a zero clearance insert's support.

James

[HANK METZ]

Sandwich both sides in thin ply and cut away, a lot of tinsmiths do it that way.

[Loren Woirhaye]

That's pretty thin and brass is soft. You'll be okay for a small job. I would not make a habit of it on a band saw set up for cutting wood though. Slower cutting speeds gives longer blade life with metal. Watch out for loading of teeth with metal.

[Dick Mahany]

Sandwich both sides in thin ply and cut away, a lot of tinsmiths do it that way.

+1, just make sure you have a relatively high tooth count on the blade. I've also used scrap MDF for the sandwich.

[Chuck Raudonis]

Get a metal cutting blade and go at it! The tooth count is high and it kind of looks like a hacksaw blade. With as thin as that is, I would sandwich it between some thin plywood. I cut aluminum all the time.

[Tai Fu]

I cut aluminum on bandsaws all the time... not thin aluminum but extrusions. Most woodworking blades will cut aluminum without problem... heck I even cut aluminum with Woodmaster CT and it didn't really care. With brass slow the speed down if you can, and if it's thin sandwich it between plywoods. It is steel that's a bigger issue because you need really slow speed to cut them effectively. I've cut brass rods with carbon steel blades too.

[Gus Dundon]

I can't see any problems cutting light metals on woodband saw. Run the saw slower and you can use a hard
back carbon band saw blade.

[Grant Wilkinson]

If you have a dust collector connected to your bandsaw, disconnect it. Brass and aluminum shavings are hot enough to smolder in the dust collector. DAMHIKT

[Steve Juhasz]

why not cut sheets that thin with snips instead? decent tin snips will leave a perfect edge