Cutting carbon fiber plate?

[romulus22]

Ill be cutting a chassis soon out of 2.5mm plate and I'm looking for ideas on the most effective / efficient ways to do so. I've cut several small pieces for my crawlers in the past but those have all been relatively small so I used my dremel and cutoff wheel. Very messy but it worked.

I plan on using 4.5" cutoff wheel to take care of the big straight cuts. Curious if a jigsaw would be a bad idea cause of the reciprocating action. I don't know anyone with a scroll saw or that would probably be my first choice.

Any suggestions with your personal experiences is appreciated.

Thanks
Todd

[jwscab]

if you are free hand cutting carbon, or fiberglass, these are the things I do.

first, if you are drilling anything at all, be sure that you have a backer, which means a sacrificial piece of fiberglass, wood, plexiglass,, etc that will prevent break through and keep the holes nice and clean.

also, I use masking tape as a layout sheet, put a layer on, mark it up where you want your cuts, and follow the line as close as you dare If I am doing something really intricate, I will trace out my lines with an xacto so I scribe into the material which gives me a good line for the finishing techniques below.

if you are doing inside cuts, use a drill for your radius, then all you cuts tend to be straight lines into that circle. I typically use a hacksaw with a fine blade, also a coping saw with a GOOD blade, as some are really cheap and dull off quickly. these give you really good control.

stick the material in a vise with an insulator, heavy card stock or something similar, (you should have a layer of tape at least on the front side. I use the top side of the side as a straight edge guide where possible, and put the 'good' side down, so if the saw cuts up, it doesn't cut into the desired shape.

once you are all done with that, it's the finishing that makes the piece look pro or hack. I will finish with a disc sander and various files to get rid of the saw marks and to create straight edges and break corners nicely.

now that I typed all that, i forgot I had a little bit of a walk through with pictures in this thread:
http://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=16813&hilit=beginnings+of+weapon+x

I can't really get a clear answer on the dangers of carbon fiber dust, so I caution to just error on the safe side and try and keep dust to a minimum and away from pets and children(and yourself)

[Seabass]

Jig saw will cause problems especially if the blade grabs the material. A jig saw will be difficult to control unless you clamp your material down.. A scroll saw will be fine but make sure you have a super quality blade. If you have access to a bandsaw, they work pretty good, almost too good. The problem with the band saw will be making a tight radius. I have cut CF into manageable pieces using my bandsaw.

Joey gave some good advice as well.

[Coelacanth]

I do the same procedure as Joe mentioned above, nearly word-for-word. I do all the easy, straight cuts with a hacksaw and fine-toothed blade (32 teeth per inch, I think) then drill inside corner holes as he said, then do most of the rest with a Dremel tool and cutting disk. I always cut just on the outside of all my lines, then file down to the lines. I sand the edges so they're a bit rounded. It ends up kind of messy-looking but after the filing and edge-sanding, it will look pretty nice.

I then color the raw cut edges with black Sharpie ink, then coat all edges with Krazy Glue to seal them and prevent delamination or the fibers from pulling up.

[GoMachV]

I would take a different route based solely on my abilities and friends. I agree with what was listed above but here is an alternative.

Measure and draw out the chassis and have someone proficient with cad draw it into a file that can be used to cut it out via CNC, water jet, or laser. I have used templates from another member that did just that, he drew an cut out a chassis on the waterjet and sent it to me as a template for the pin router. He could have saved a step and cut directly to the g10 or even carbon if he had the material. This way you also have a digital copy in case you ever need another just send the file and material to your guy.

I know it sounds like more work but it's mostly getting it into a cad file, from there you don't need to do any manual labor

[romulus22]

That's a lot of good advise. I was already thinking of a lot of it its just good to hear others thoughts. I knew I would need to clamp with a jigsaw just getting the clamp close to where I'm working without being in the way was a thought. Ill have to look into a coping saw as I hadn't thought of one of those.

[romulus22]

I thought of that too with water jetting it. I even have my chassis all laid out and am getting ready to take it into work so our graphic designer can put it in the computer and make all my lines and holes symmetrical and straight. IDE like to get it laser or water cut but I don't know anyone with cad skills / program and the whole process seems like it would add up quickly

[GoMachV]

That's where you have to "know a guy" or be willing to learn

I don't know if my guy could be bought or not....I will direct him to this thread and if so....I'm sure he will be in contact. Name withheld to protect his playtime