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#1
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Turning fiberglass
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. Jimmie |
#2
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Turning fiberglass
"Jimmie D" wrote in
: 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. The only tools that I have used to cut GRP have been carbide tools. You need to consider the dust hazard. Owen |
#3
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Turning fiberglass
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. Jimmie I've cut and machined a fair amount of Extren (pultruded structural fiberglass composites) and things like glass-epoxy laminate over the years. - cutting glass fibers makes tools dull in a big hurry, even carbide, the wear rate is spectacular. - diamond tooling survives quite well and isn't all that expensive - or, just buy cheap tools and throw them away after a couple uses (e.g. drill bits) - the dust is quite obnoxious and abrasive, avoid getting it in the ways or anything that needs high precision. lots of liquid coolant helps keep the dust to a minimum - breathing the dust is bad, getting it on your skin is bad, getting it on your clothes is bad. Consider wearing one of those disposable tyvek coverall suits. Try and keep the dust from spreading, because inevitably, you'll pick it up later, and it itches, if nothing else. - these are the reasons why machine tools used to machine glass or carbon reinforced composites sell at a discount.. they wear out fast.. all those little abrasive particles grind away at all the precision parts. Unless you're going to be doing a lot of it, you might be better off just paying a machine shop that handles the stuff to do it for you. Places that regularly machine laminates and composites have all the dust collection stuff and tooling, and factor the wear into the price structure. When I started working with composites at a former employer, they had only done machining on conventional metals and plastics. After my little foray into composites, they decided it wasn't worth it. Metal scrap is easy to manage, little bits of glass fiber isn't. |
#4
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Turning fiberglass
On 24 Apr, 22:46, Owen Duffy wrote:
"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. The only tools that I have used to cut GRP have been carbide tools. You need to consider the dust hazard. Owen You sure do. I didn't notice it at first until a ray of sunshine came thru the window and it could be seen swirling in the air. Art |
#5
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Turning fiberglass
On Apr 24, 9:22 pm, "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. Jimmie You didn't mention if it's a metal lathe or a wood lathe. If it's a metal lathe, it should be no problem getting a good uniform diameter. For one-off or just a few you can use either a HSS or carbide tool. Protect the lathe parts, especially the bed, from the abrasive dust. If you're worried about breathing the dust, keep the piece wet while you're turning it. You probably don't need to, but you can sand the tool marks out if you really want. Your last sentence makes me think it may be a wood lathe. You should be able to do ok with that too. Be careful about the tool digging in and grabbing, of course. If you really don't want to try a standard wood lathe tool on it, you could perhaps make one from an old (or cheap) file; it would be a lot harder than a random piece of square steel stock. Another possibility is a HSS metal lathe bit, mounted in some suitable holder. I certainly wouldn't think twice about turning fiberglass in a metal lathe, with proper protection. Cheers, Tom |
#6
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Turning fiberglass
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 |
#7
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Turning fiberglass
"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 |
#8
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Turning fiberglass
On Sat, 28 Apr 2007 16:53:00 -0400, "Jimmie D"
wrote: "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 If the hose is in the right location the ol' Shop Vac should have done a pretty good job at getting most of the dust, although I'd still recomend a dust mask.:-)) I have a dust collector in the shop that uses a 5" hose. (5th photo from the top http://www.rogerhalstead.com/G3_file...s/glasair6.htm ) 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 Yah, the stuff is like trying to cut an abrasive wheel with a cutting bit. :-)) 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. I've found the same. The original finish on the ones I've had here has tended to be quite fragile and turns to dust in just a couple of years which makes them very messy to handle. I prefer a two part acrylic or cyanolic paint, but the plain old so called "epoxy" in a spray can seems to work well. I only use white as the colors seem to get hot enough to cause the resin to soften. Roger (K8RI) Jimmie |
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