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Cutting Side Panels?


Bananaman

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I'm thinking about cutting side panel (either side of engine bay) and wanted to know the best tools to use, i can see a dremmel being a pain in the ass & ending up with wibberley wobberley line!!!

Not sure if Angle grinder is the way forward, if so what disc to use?

Any other help/advice??

Ta

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my cycle wings were sikoflexd on so much that there was no gettting them off... knowing that they were being replaced anyway I very quickly decided to cut them off. so not wanting to make a neat job of it as theyd be going in the bin anyway I took the grinder to them... have to say tho it cut through leaving astonishingly a lovely clean cut!

i wouldnt have any hesitation to use it.. would perhaps tape the area tho to help stop the gel coat splitting.. just as an incase of....

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I used a big hacksaw for the most part, kept the main line nice and straight - bit of finishing with the dremel in the awkward places afterwards.

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Use a cutting disc in an angle grinder. You can alsways file the edges flat afterwards if you are p******** when you do it :)

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I used a fine metal blade in a jigsaw last night on some fibreglass. Worked well with quite a clean edge.

Plenty of masking tape on top to save scratching the gel and you will be fine. Would use hand blade when near to the chassis though :o

Edit - Just to note that I wasn't cutting a straight line, was cutting out 80mm dia circles. Noted use of cutting discs for straight / 'line' cuts for futre through - thanks for the tip Steve, John and others.

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I found a tennon saw works really well for getting a clean straight cut in fibreglass. I found if using anything like a hacksaw blade the cut tended to wander off line too much and then needed fettling after.

Here's an example and my favourite cutting tool for the job :d

DSC_0948.jpg

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Mark, which side did you cut from, gelcoat or fibreglass? I need to fit the boot box around the roll, but I have been putting it off :oops:

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Mark, which side did you cut from, gelcoat or fibreglass? I need to fit the boot box around the roll, but I have been putting it off :oops:

I cut with the saw on the downstroke with the gelcoat side up, exactly as in the pic.

That way the gel coat is always being pushed toward the fibreglass rather than torn away from it. It gives a nice clean cut with no chipping. :t-up:

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1" masking tape to the line where you want to cut , 4.5" grinder with a 1mm cutting disc , simples

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1" masking tape to the line where you want to cut , 4.5" grinder with a 1mm cutting disc , simples

wot he said :t-up: done it a few times now with no dangler ups

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I use a Dremel tungsten Carbide side cutter for fibreglass - more control (same dust though) and easy to form curves and wiggly shapes and gives a smooth edge finish

1-9903.jpg

Edited by hilux
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Use a cutting disc in an angle grinder. You can alsways file the edges flat afterwards if you are p******** when you do it :)

:d

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