Carbon Fibre

[Liam]

What are the best tools for cutting carbon fibre (dashboard) and drilling holes for instruments/switches?

What PPE should be used?

Which side should the cutting be made from?

[chazpowerslide]

Dermmel used for cutting, normal sharp drill bits running at high speed for small(ish) holes and a hole saw for the bigger ones.

Jigsaw with metal cutting blades to get the general shape, 1200 wet and sry for finishing the edges.

Cover the "on show" surface dash with masking tape which is also convienient for marking out on      and cut from that side.

Place the dash on a slab of MDF or similar when drilling to support it, you'll also find it helps prevent the drill bits from snatching.

PPE, face mask and eye protection is a must I also used latex gloves.

I found that my C/F dash was much easier to work with than glass fiber (less chance of crazing/cracking) and the holes/cuts seemed cleaner.

All tools available to borrow from Chez powerslide if needed.

Edited to add;

Minimum pressure on the cutting tool and fast speeds seem to be the order of the day, I did'nt notice the Dremmel cutting tools wearing any faster on C/F than GRP.

Chaz.

[Liam]

Thangyouvermush  

[gumstabber]

Also something to add is that if you are going to have any exposed edges that may be liable to getting knocked/chipped then you should run a thin bead of superglue over these exposed edges - stops the layers cracking away from each other.

[Liam]

Thanks

L

[kipford]

As Chaz says. Very important you use gloves and mask, if you get CF splinters in your skin they can go septic very easily. CF dust is carconagenic

Dave

[Liam]

Thaks again

[iiyama]

Correction, CF dust is not carcenogenic. However it dont do you a lot of good to breath it!

[adamnreeves]

I did some tests on cutting my CF dash and use a variety of jigsaw bits. The blade causing the least damage was a 24TPI metal cutting one. Dremel is only good if you are cutting a straight line. If your jigsaw is the pendulum type then set it to position 1. I actually cut mine from the reverse side as the blade cuts on the way up and I thought better to pull away from the gel coat. Yes, go slow and steady. After I cut my dash about 1.6 metres I had one small chip on the edge, literally 1mm but I cut oversize by about this amount anyway.

[Tim Reid]

For dials and round holes it's suggested to use a hole saw. It that the standard type with big teeth or the type suitable for cutting tiles which has a metal grit type cutting area?

[SootySport]

I used the standard size hole saw for wood. Stick masking tape over the whole dash, mark it up with your cuts. Clamp the dash to some solid board.  Don't press hard with the drill, let the weight of the drill find it's own way through but do hold the drill with both hands to keep it steady.  Finally, lightly burnish the edges with fine emery paper.

[jay200bhp]

on a dremel you need a diamond cutting disc .or a dremel item called a diamond roloc. these cut very cleanly .jigsaw blades will encourage the "plys"to separate and generally make a mess... the barrels on the dremel make a nice job of making the holes if you have a steady hand,i trim carbon for a job and they use these in F1 would you believe it ...

[pete g]

tin snips work best I found

[mhc]

Pete.

I hope you still have a sharp pair.

[lewis]

I got these http://www.easycomposites.co.uk/products/perma-grit/19mm-and-32mm-rotary-discs-with-arbor.aspx for my dremel and it worked very well, no splitting or splintering at all.