cutting carbon fiber shoudl I buy an expensive bit.

[knight_toolworks]

I see about 60 of minutes of cutting 1/4" carbon fiber sheet. The peopel that usually do it for this customer only have small cnc's and he says they just use regular carbide router bits so they may not care about a perfect edge.
The job may only be 20 minutes if I only cut one sheet so do I want to spend 90.00 on a bit?

[tlempicke]

I cut some pieces using a 2 flute 1/8 inch bit. Cut at a fairly slow speed and a high RPM.

Charge AT LEAST 2X. That is some of the nastiest stuff you will ever work with. MAKE SURE you wear breathing protection, long sleeves and gloves. Schedule it so that you can get directly from the job to the shower.

The piece I cut was an instrument panel for a Cobra Replica and it turned out beautifully.

[Brian Harnett]

The dust is very abrasive good dust collection is a good idea so your router or spindle does not get it in it

Respirator as already said.

I used to use an abrasive cutter for steel cutting in a die grinder or dremel when I was making bicycles out of it, never cut it on the bot.

[kevin]

Its dangerous they where starting to use it when I left the airport .Your talking full resporator gets in your pores.

For 20 min Steve ?

[kevin]

Here are 2 opions saying the same thing:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=311845


http://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=182966

20 mins at how much .I was suprised the fibers can short out electrical

[knight_toolworks]

Its dangerous they where starting to use it when I left the airport .Your talking full resporator gets in your pores.

For 20 min Steve ?
Yes that sounds nasty. I do have excellent dc. I worked with so many nasty tropical hardwoods I worked hard to get dust. I have a 6" hose with a custom dc boot that pretty much does not let dust fly around.
two of the guys that cut this companies stuff moved it no a shop in my basement. The company is good about mistakes but the idea of handling 10,00 in material does nasty things to me. Plus the gloss stuff the surface has to be perfect. I can see scratching it with my bumbling around.

[Brady Watson]

You can pass along my contact information if you are not up to it. I will pay you a finder's fee. I machine carbon & aramids for big pharma, research facilites and other niche markets. I've been cutting this stuff for 10 years and have the process nailed. I'm not scared of the high tooling and material costs, and my cuts come out perfect with polished edges and non-marred faces.

-B

[kevin]

I think Brady has the right idea make big money from somethig like this.

Just go with eyes wide open

[Ajcoholic]

Carbon fibre sheet is much easier on tooling than some composite sheet materials (like G10).

I have some experience cutting carbon sheet for RC model parts (also in G10) and I found the carbon cuts really well with standard carbide tooling.

Yes, the dust is nasty so protect yourself from inhalation.

The worse stuff I ever machined was some very, very abrasive and tough phenolic material for Siemens (a motor rewinding company that does a lot of huge mining motors here). Would destroy a carbide blade within minutes. Had to be abraded to cut/work.

Compared to most, carbon fibre is no sweat!

AJC