Cutting Carbon Fiber

[cormigu]

Can somebody help me,i need to cut sheet of carbon fiber....what type of tool do i need and feed and speed....the Thickness is 1/16.

 

Thanks.

[Matthew Hajicek - Singularity]

What I've done in the past is just use a 1/32" carbide four flute. The tool will wear quickly, and when it does the cut will get fuzzy. If you have a lot of it to do I'd recommend a diamond coated tool.

 

Set up a vacuum to suck up the dust. You do not want that dust getting into the workings of your machine.

[cormigu]

thanks Matt.

for your advice.

[Bill Henderson]

thanks Matt.

for your advice.

 

I know this is an old topic, but I have a college kid that wants me to help him with his school project. He has 6 sheets that are .437 thick. They each have two 10-24 tapped holes.

 

How does this material tap? Can it be tapped or should it be inserted?

 

Thanks for any help

[Buddy J]

I know this is an old topic, but I have a college kid that wants me to help him with his school project. He has 6 sheets that are .437 thick. They each have two 10-24 tapped holes.

 

How does this material tap? Can it be tapped or should it be inserted?

 

Thanks for any help

 

It can be "Cut" Tapped but I wouldn't want to put alot of faith in the strength

of the threads.

[Oscar R.]

I would not recomend tapping it. Your best be is thread milling. Still there's a good chance it will delaminate.

Drilling it will almost certainly cause it to delaminate more so if it has to break thru to the other side of your stock.

 

I've used a diamond burr cutter or Onsrud high velocity compresion cutter that seemed to work prety well.

[BenK]

He has 6 sheets that are .437 thick. They each have two 10-24 tapped holes.

 

Can you make come threaded inserts for it instead of trying to tap the carbon fiber?

[mkd]

another design possibility is to rivet a nut plate instead.

threaded inserts would likely need to be glue/cured in place.

[Bill Henderson]

I've suggested the glued in inserts. He agreed.

 

Thanks for everyone's input.

 

Oh, I was going to use diamond burrs. Seems like they will do the trick. I will post the outcome.

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

Yep. Glued inserts or self threading inserts.

 

[andate caga]

There are some really strong torlon inserts with a steel insert out there, that can be bonded in. Be careful the dust does not get out of control. It's not good for you or your electronics.

[mkd]

+1 on diamond burrs.

i have found there is substantially less cutting forces with these compared to regular fluted cutters. it can make dimensional differences on weak 5 axis routers.