ripping carbon fiber?
 

Can I use a table saw? I have a 9" x 12" panel that I need ripped to 6 1/2" x 12".

I want to use a table saw to keep it square.

Will it ruin the blade?

Thoughts, suggestions?


Thanks:intello:

I doubt it will ruin the blade. I would use a small tooth blade tho, not a large tooth ripping blade. I cut tons of hard laminate flooring on mine and it came out great.

The blade will be blunt and dangerous very quickly but it should do a few rip cuts. I use a jigsaw with a diamond blade & have had success using a straight egde clamped at either end to get straight cuts

you are also supposed to use water on the blade too because the carbon fiber dust is extremely harmful to your lungs and the water cuts down on the dust.

You can get a cheap Diamond blade to cut concrete or stone pavers. But you'll loose 1/8'' from the cut. You gotta have some way of catching most of the dust with a Shop Vac that has a bag in it if you can't use water to keep the dust down. Wear a good quality dust mask and goggles. Nitrile gloves are good practice also, tiny CF shards in the skin are painful and hard to get out. I like Nitrile instead of rubber gloves. Nitrile gloves will just rip if something bad happens and the blade catches the glove. Rubber will stretch quite a bit before ripping and may pull the finger in the blade.

Use a wet tile saw..

That would work awesome.

Remember gloves and table saws are a no-no :diablo:
***Image removed until I can figure out how to do a thumbnail****
P.s. yes, that's my hand after a glove/table saw incident :whistle: Hand looks much better now but the middle finger doesn't bend real well :oops:

Ah jesus man. >_<

Anyway to make that a thumbnail? Anything that horrible shouldn't be in full res.


Power tools and gloves are ALWAYS a bad idea.


2nd the stone/tile blade, tho I still have my doubts it will dull a decent blade on one small 12" pass. If you have to go buy one, get the blade recc.

+1 I've done it with my Dad works like a dream.

Youch! every table saw I know has an appetite for fingers. The sound the blade makes when it hits bone is what I'd call unique. At least you got all yours still attached...crawling around the workshop looking for missing digits is no fun at all

I must retract what I said about wearing gloves after seeing that pic, I never used a table saw to rip CF anyway, I thought of it once but I was scared to try it. And I never wear gloves when I do use the table saw. I think the wet tile saw is really the best option and the safest.

Do you own a router? If so, I suggest using that. Just clamp a piece of angle iron on the desired place to use as a fence/guide for the router. Not sure what kind of bit you would use, but I've seen a thread on here somewhere where the guy was making custom CF parts, using a router table and custom made guides for the parts, and it worked great. A router or wet tile saw is probably going to be your safest bet though, the router will make more dust though so be sure to wet everything down and wear a respirator.

I think I was the one who posted the video on how I duplicate parts in CF with a router. Yes it does work great but for ripping or cutting in a straight line, the wet tile saw would do better I'm sure. With the router, anything else then Tungsten carbide bits, full carbide or diamond bits won't do. The CF will dull up any other kinds of bits or blades in a hurry.

Could you post up those vids MC? I'd like to see those

I posted it on the Traxxas forum. I thought I posted it here but it looks like I didn't, or I can't find it. Anyway, here it is.

http://s177.photobucket.com/albums/w...on_how_to1.mp4

No laughing at my ugly mug or my French accent :lol:

Use latex gloves from CVS... Personally I just use a dremel... Why make life harder than it needs to be.

A good router or dremel with a diamond cutting bit will get through the carbon fiber pretty well. If you tape up your cuts before you take them it should help with the ripping too.

Great vid MC. How did you fit a 1/8" bit into the router tho? Usually they are 1/4" at least. Do you have a better desc of the bit used? I see lots of diff styles

I like that idea of the table router. I've been making some parts, cutting the part out on the outside w/ a bandsaw, drilling holes w/ the drill press, but I've been trying to figure out how best to cut out the intricate center sections. I like this idea more than anything I've come up with so far. Very clean cuts too.

Cheap routers and router tables can be had for $25 bucks on CL. I have an used one that may work. I like this idea better than a dremel as its impossible for me to get very straight/clean cuts like that with a handheld rotary. The tool doesn't have a stable base, so always likes to pull to one side (let alone jump.) Too much fighting the tool for me. I'll leave it for cutting and grinding.




x2 on using tape for the edges. Works well on lots of cutting projects to not damage the edge (tho MC's look fine.)

I was referring to leather gloves as dangerous w/ power tools. Basically anything that will catch and get pulled in and take your hand with it. Thin nitrile/latex gloves don't count. ;)

I bought a multi tool at Canadian Tire a few years ago. It accepts 1/4'' shank bits but had this adapter to be able to use 1/8'' shank bits also so that's what I used on the router. I like to use this bit from Dremel. http://www.dremel.com/en-us/Attachme....aspx?pid=9903 for small parts that have small radius' and I have a larger carbide burr with a 1/4'' shank and 1/4'' cutting surface that does good work cutting around larger parts.

Looks like this adapter may work. Only $4 too. I may have to do this.

Yep, the one I used look a lot like that.

How well would your setup work for cutting 1/8" 6061 aluminum do you think?

I guess I like to do things the hard way because I just use a dremel with the guide, and this bit. I take a straight edge like a level or piece of spare aluminum angle stock, clamp it down, and use that as a "fence". I've never cut that long of a piece in one shot though, but sounds safer than a table saw.

I used the router table to work with aluminum and it would have been better with a different bit. The ones I have gum up and get packed quickly with chunks of aluminum. There are carbide burrs out there that are made to work with aluminum. I managed to use the bits I have with lots of WD40 as a lubricant but it was messy.

I'm anal and I want the cut to be 100% square and straight.

I was a framing carpenter by trade(disabled now) and grew up on a farm. I was running a table saw by 12. Table saws aren't "unsafe" to me!:intello:

A Saber saw (jig) works fine on aluminum, mild or stainless under 3/16" If your saw has a orbit (where the blade kicks forward on the up cut) disable it or it will kick back on you.

You can also use the roto zip style bits, and a dremel to cut aluminum. We use them a lot on 1/16" 6061 and 7075 aluminum. It cuts fast but can get out of hand if you don't use a guide.

Jeff