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The MDX series machines were made for an office environment and with that in mind have no coolant system, I do not recommend cutting these materials at all. The reason is that when cutting these materials the tool and the material it is cutting builds up extreme heat. Normally you would have coolant flowing on the tool while it is cutting these materials and this keeps everything cooled down to a reasonable temperature. With out the cooling the tool will break from the heat damage or dull the tool very quickly. Like always you also have to use a tool that is made of a material stronger then the material it is cutting, so you would use carbide for cutting these materials. If you do cut these materials, use some kind of lubricant to keep the tool from overheating. I have a client who uses a misting coolant system that has been retrofitted to these machines for cutting these materials. Another client uses a cold air gun retrofitted to the machines. Consider these as examples of how to cut these materials, do not consider this as a recommendation by us to do this, when retrofitting the Roland machines you are assuming all risks and we can not be held responsible for our suggestions. We just want the our clients to be fully informed and to not just tell them no but explain why.
As I mentioned above another good option for these kind of metals is to cut out the part you want in casting wax and send it to a casting company and they will cast it in the material of your choice, this is an inexpensive option because the most expensive part of the casting process is making the pattern.
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