Well, first, metal cutting scroll saw blades-

http://www.olsonsaw.net/scroll-saw-blades---plain-end.html

These guys have em all. Every size, tooth count, and application. They will mail order, and are an old, high quality company.

Then- cutting lots of petals, for flowers. The way its usually done is- send it out, to someone with a laser. Laser cutting is the best way for this- every part will be exactly right, as many as you want, no bends, nicks, or gouges.
The downside, of course, is that it costs money.

Somebody like Randy McDaniels, another metalsmith, could do this for you, or, in most parts of the country, there are local places.
http://www.drgnfly4g.com/index_files/Page1607.htm

You can even buy pre cut flower petals, in steel, which many blacksmiths use to make metal flowers.
http://www.saber.net/~jere/rose.html

The alternative is to just get really fast with snips. After the first few hundred, it becomes second nature.

With copper that thin, theoretically, you could stamp them- but to do that effectively means making a die for each shape, which is pretty precise and labor intensive, involving machining. Then, you need a press. And unless you use a high speed OBI punch press, its not any faster than cutting em by hand. So if you really need 1000 a day, this would be a good way to go. Its the way the old line findings guys used to do it- places like Frank Morrow, in Rhode Island, have hundreds of dies, each weighing a couple hundred pounds, and which took a skilled machinist a week to make- but they last virtually forever, and you can always pull one down and run another 500 parts.
http://www.frankmorrow.com/Products/index.cfm?displayGrouping=3
Morrow will sell you any of a few dozen designs of flat petals, in copper, or most any other metal you want.

Joe,

Not surprisingly, I agree with everything Ries said. I will add that I have cut literaly thousands of metal letters out of stock anywhere from .020" to 2" thick on my Delta Q3 scroll saw without any problems.

The right blade and right operating speed make all the difference in the world with a scroll saw. I have use jewelers' saw blades on mine many times, using a slow stroke rate. On 30 ga stock I would think that you should be able to cut out a 4" cloverleaf piece in under two minutes or so.

If your pieces are large enough, another way to cut them is to use a sabre saw (jig saw) over 3" thick hard styrofoam insulating board. This allows you to cut detail on very thin stocdk without the stock flopping around all over the place. The styrofoam is thick enough that it never gets cut trhough so you cna use the same piece over and over again hundreds of times. With copper, the small high tooth-count hollow-ground finish blades used for plywood work fine and last pretty well when you're not snagging the teeth and breaking them.

ONe other possibility comes to mind for short runs of pieces in that thin copper. Chisel cutting. With a bit of practice, you can cut out complex shapes very rapidly using sharp chisels on a hard backing such as brass.

I think you should try having the copper cut for you by a waterjet cutting service. They can cut several layers at once. Hope this is helpful. Stephen Kishel

Search for scrollerbear here on artmetal and you will find some info. I think he does fretwork in metal.

SmokyRick
Rick Crawford at Smoky Forge