Looking a novel solution for cutting out carbon slats

Question

Looking a novel solution for cutting out carbon slats

magnasanti (Materials)

(OP)

13 Jul 14 14:40

I am looking to make a rig or tool that can make an exact and repeatable cut of 12 carbon fiber slats the sheet of carbon the slats are made from are made of 1 ply .3mm laminate so it is not too difficult to cut. The two ideas I have had are a die cutter and some type of rig with movable blades to cut out the slats. The pictures to what I am trying to achieve can be seen HERE. http://imgur.com/a/RBAmf

Compositepro (Chemical) · Answer 1 · 2014-07-13 15:20:30

Make a sheet metal template and use two-sided tape. For only 12 pieces a pair of scissors or shears will work. For production a template and router will work.

tygerdawg (Mechanical) · Answer 2 · 2014-07-13 15:45:37

Would cost a small amount, but to get a good edge finish on carbon fiber material in that shape, I would find a place with a 5-axis waterjet to cut that for you. If your schedule is not urgent, I know a University that could probably help (for a nominal fee, of course.)

TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering
www.bluetechnik.com

magnasanti (Materials) · Answer 3 · 2014-07-13 15:49:31

The thing is this is not exactly a one time use kind of thing more on the production side but small in that category. The idea is to be able to make these slats to a very acculturate dimension stability reliably and quickly ( at will ) so a tool which can do this is what I am trying to realize.

MikeHalloran (Mechanical) · Answer 4 · 2014-07-14 02:57:01

A wooden saddle with a stop at one end in a HF abrasive cutoff machine might be able to make them well enough, depending on unstated tolerances.

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

mcgyvr (Mechanical) · Answer 5 · 2014-07-14 12:35:04

steel rule die in an arbor press (or clicker type press)

berkshire (Aeronautics) · Answer 6 · 2014-07-14 15:31:56

Can you flatten the part without damage? If you can, sandwich it between a flat sheet of material, then water jet the part. You can set up an array on a CNC water jetter and cut them all at once.
B.E.

You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.

ornerynorsk (Industrial) · Answer 7 · 2014-07-15 11:02:08

5 axis waterjet??? Why 5 axis? For limited or low volume production, cnc router might be a good solution. Or a simple pin and jig router, for that matter.

It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.

tomwalz (Materials) · Answer 8 · 2014-07-16 13:18:27

http://blog.carbideprocessors.com/uncategorized/cu...

Thomas J. Walz
Carbide Processors, Inc.
www.carbideprocessors.com

Good engineering starts with a Grainger Catalog.

Compositepro (Chemical) · Answer 9 · 2014-07-16 15:45:13

Tom, good pictures. As I said, a pair of scissors will do the job and they can follow the edge of a template to a few thousandths of an inch. But why use a pair of scissors when a $100,000 machine can do it in twice the time. smile

tomwalz (Materials) · Answer 10 · 2014-07-17 14:04:56

I'm not that good with scissors so I use a paper cutter.

I bow to your superior skill.

Tom

Thomas J. Walz
Carbide Processors, Inc.
www.carbideprocessors.com

Good engineering starts with a Grainger Catalog.

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Looking a novel solution for cutting out carbon slats