If you’re a hobbyist who would like to take your crafts to the next level and open a business, one of the very first things that you should be looking for are brass suppliers that you can rely on for your stock of materials.
One of the most common items that you would need to have easy access to is brass sheet metal. Custom crafts-makers are fond of using this because of its versatility and malleability. It may take a while getting used to working with this type of sheet metal, though, but with enough practice, it should be one of the easiest items you’ll need to complete your projects.
Here are some tips that you could use to improve your use and handling of brass sheet metal so you can come up with better finished products.
Consider the Quality of Material
First things first: sheet metals are not all created equal. Although they may belong to the same type, there are sub-categories that you will have to know about such as their differences in thickness. There is a tool that you can use to determine the measurement known as the sheet metal gauge. With this tool, you can get a gauge of the sheet’s thickness all the way up to the last thousandths of an inch. The higher the number, the thinner the sheet is.
Handy Tools
There are various ways that you can utilize sheet metals. You can cut it, bend it, melt it, or twist it, if you may so like. It’s important that you know which type of material to use for which kind of sheet metal, too.
Snips, for example, are among the easiest to be identified because of its similarity in appearance to a pair of scissors or garden shears. This is ideal for use on the softer kind of sheet metals, including brass, aluminum, and tin. Do take note, though, that there are sub-types of snips, too, specifically for the kind of cut you’ll have. If the handle of the snips is green, that means it’s for right-cuts, yellow is for straight-cuts, and red is for left-cuts.
Another tool you can use is the hacksaw. This is more for the heavy duty stuff, and would require some maintenance on the blade to keep it sharper and effective for longer. The sawing action will likely result to chips, which can scratch the sheet, so to avoid that, just put a strip of masking tape to serve as protective cover in the meantime.
Again, if you find the right supplier to trust, such as Rotax Metals, they should be able to help you get the right materials for your business needs.
Sources
1000+ Ideas about Sheet Metal Crafts on Pinterest, Pinterest
How to Choose, Cut, and Bend Sheet Metal, Makezine
