"Roger (K8RI)" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 25 Apr 2007 00:22:16 -0400, "Jimmie D"
wrote:

I want to make some fiberglass antenna parts that would probably most
easily
be make by turning fiberglass rod in my lathe. Ive never done this before
and was wonder how rough fiberglass would be on the tools/lathe. I have a
piece of 1- 1/4 inch fiberglass rod I want to turn down to fit the inside
diameter of a piece of 1-1/4 inch tubing. Im thinking get a piece of
square
stock and make a diposable cutting tool for this.


I do a lot of fiberglass work. Building a 335 MPH airplane. The two
most important points are the dust is quite hazardous which pretty
much mandates wearing a good mask and not the little disposable paper
or cloth ones. The filter needs to be very fine. As has already been
said, you want to keep the dust off you and your clothes. The other is
the dust is abrasive and you do not want it to spread. I use a "whole
shop" fan with a large filter set close to the work so the draft
carries the dust right into the filter. You also need to protect the
ways and moving parts on the lathe. Good bits have already been
discussed.

Remember that the resin is sensitive to UV light and unprotected with
degrade rapidly. Also the glass fibers are easily damaged by water
(which was a surprise to me) so the finished piece needs a good coat
of paint, or varnish to provided protection from both UV and moisture.

Jimmie

Thanks Roger, probably didnt do it right then, I used some old high speed
steel tools and duct taped the shop vac to the tool holder. I was just
cutting down a fibeglass rod join two pieces of Al tubing together. It
really dulled the heck out of the tool. but I got it done. I was thinking of
mixing up a little resin to seal the raw edges and give it a coat of
automotive acrylic enamel to finish it off. I work with fiberglass encased
antennas I find they wil last seemingly forever if you keep them painted.

Jimmie