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Working Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic on a CNC
Question
Forum Responses
From contributor E: Whoooo boy! Like the posting above. Special tooling, short life, and I hope you have a serious dust collection system! Make sure the customer is willing to pay accordingly. From contributor M: As always, contributor B's advice is right on the money. At a former employer (about 15 years ago), we were cutting similar material. Ours was 1/4" and 3/8" thick. The tooling we used was a little more specialized for the application, and if you take the work, you may want to consider using this type. The tools were little more than a tool steel dowel that were impregnated with industrial diamond chips at the business end of the shaft. They essentially looked like coarse grit sandpaper. Talk to your local tool supplier about them. I don't think you can get these off the shelf. The real thought with this tooling is that the tool life goes well beyond anything you can buy off the shelf.
From contributor G: Use a fiberglass tool. CF series with us [Courmatt]. They come with a variety of end cuts, such as a drill style, end mill style, burr style or a fish tail type style. It will leave a lot of dust. I suggest using air to assist in chip evacuation. From contributor D: Dremel sells a fiberglass cut out bit in 1/4" shank. You can get it at Home Depot or Menards. It's a prickly bit made of solid carbide. I use a similar bit in 1/2'' with a bottom bearing for roughing swanstone solid surface, which is a mineral and fiberglass based material. Been using the same bit for years; they last a long time. From contributor J: I have been routing fiberglass for 18 years. I use a drill point burr cutter. You're cutting 3mm, which is about .118" thick. I would recommend 1/8". You can get away with a 3/32", but depends on how much cutting is involved. From contributor C: It's like everyone else has said - the fiberglass or burr bit is about the best choice. Tool life will be an issue no matter whose tooling you use. Would you like to add information to this article? Interested in writing or submitting an article? Have a question about this article? Have you reviewed the related Knowledge Base areas below? 
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