Machining carbon fiber

[Jeff Monson]

Just wondering if anyone has experience in machining carbon fiber? I have to make a few small parts, and chose to use 1/4" carbon fiber to make them out of. I planned on making a plywood template and cutting and routing the carbon fiber. So will a bandsaw and pattern bit in a router be ok for the task? I will also need a few holes drilled and countersunk. Just curious how this stuff is going to be to work with.

[Bruce Page]

I have machined it in a laboratory machine shop environment. Carbon fiber is abrasive and will dull a cutter fairly quickly. I forget what they are called but I used a special carbide cutter that looked more like a carbide burr than a fluted end mill. Because of the multiple layers, it does not drill well. Again, I used special drill bits designed for it. I have no experience band sawing it but I would think a carbide blade would be necessary. Sorry, this isn't a lot of help, it's been 25 years since I machined it. I guess the main take away from this is I do remember that it was more difficult to machine than I thought it would be.

[Erik Loza]

No firsthand experience but a customer I sold a bandsaw to, years back, told me came from a shop where they machined a lot of CF and he said it was nasty, nasty stuff to work with. He told me he wore a respirator and that it sent needle-like shards everywhere.

Erik

[Keith Hankins]

https://www.element.com/nucleus/2016/06/29/five-tips-for-machining-carbon-fiber

[Bruce Page]

Erik brings up a good point. CF is often machined under a coolant flood to control the dust and keep the cutter cool. The satellite hardware I was making could not be contaminated and had to be cut dry. I used a high velocity vacuum to capture the dust.

[Jeff Monson]

https://www.element.com/nucleus/2016/06/29/five-tips-for-machining-carbon-fiber

Great info. thanks Keith

[Martin Wasner]

Use an abrasive wheel to cut carbon fibre. Anything with teeth will be a pain in the rear and damage the material in my experience. Use a spindle or edge sander for any shapes.

[Bruce Page]

An abrasive wheel will work if you are just doing basic shapes but you would have to be careful not to overheat the resin/polymers and compromise the CF's strength. The best cutting method if you are just doing flat 2D shapes is with a waterjet.

[Andrew J. Coholic]

Ive cut quite a bit of CF sheet material. It is actually not that tough to cut (nothing like really tough phenolics like G10, etc which can be very tough). It will depend upon the resin though. The actual carbon fibres cut easily.

Any carbide bit in a router will machine it fine - in a router I prefer a solid carbide spiral. Drilling and so forth is easy, since it is a fairly low speed and no heat build up.

The only thing I would say is that a regular band saw blade will lose the set in the teeth and then be useless for cutting wood. Use an old blade, and then toss it.

If you plan to rough cut to size and trim with a pattern and a router you should be just fine.

Yes, avoid inhaling the dust.

[Myk Rian]

Fiberglass is looking more attractive, eh?

[Chris Fournier]

I echo Andrew's advice and just warn you that any bandsaw blade short of carbide will be toast after your first cut.

[Jeff Monson]

Ok, very good info. I will stay away from the bandsaw. I'm leaning more towards a jigsaw to get it close, I do have a spindle sander so that will most likely be my option for final dimensions. I have 3 parts to fabricate nothing huge, just need strong material.