CNC Carbon/Kevlar flat bed cutter

Cycle1000 · Apr 20, 2017

A little of the beaten path here but CNC none the less. Anybody here with any experience with such a machine? I have a quote for a made in the usa model coming today. But would like to see if any others stand out.
An interesting note is it has a 240v 3p 65amp breaker requirement :scratchchin:

He said the vacuum table is the culprit. Can you imagine how much vacuum you could draw with that kind of load.

The new product is going to require a ridiculous amount of Carbon and Kevlar to be cut and scissors is out of the question.. :willy_nilly:

Gary

G00 Proto · Apr 20, 2017

Vacuum pumps take a tremendous amount of electricity, I had some experience with that doing vacuforming.

I'm surprised you are cnc cutting the carbon and Kevlar. I have had pretty good luck die cutting that material. Tooling was pretty darn cheap and knuckle over presses are everywhere.

Perry Harrington · Apr 20, 2017

That's easily a 20HP compressor pulling a ~1000? CFM at 1atm.

Cycle1000 · Apr 21, 2017

Perry,
Don't know my vacuum/hp conversion. But it does seem like enough power to pull a piece of plate through the bed

But it is a large bed so what do I know.
I found some real deals on made in china versions. They look great..just trying to imagine me on the phone with a question of why the file program is not loading in the computer :toetap:

Brian · Apr 21, 2017

The new product is going to require a ridiculous amount of Carbon and Kevlar to be cut and scissors is out of the question.. :willy_nilly:

Gary[/QUOTE]

Have you considered laser cutting the material? No vacuum required as there are no cutting forces. Don't know your sizes of parts, but flat bed lasers might be a better idea. I can do 32" x18" on mine and it's considered small.

MCritchley · Apr 21, 2017

Check into a flatbed fabric machine. The ones tent and awning shops use. A mate of mine is cutting up prepreg carbon with his.

I am low volume, i use a olfa rotary cutter on a mat.

Johnny Larue · Apr 21, 2017

are you aware of this machine for Kevlar and composites...its a large 3d printer...bad azzzz

Johnny Larue · Apr 21, 2017

dis

Cycle1000 · Apr 22, 2017

Brian said:
The new product is going to require a ridiculous amount of Carbon and Kevlar to be cut and scissors is out of the question..
Gary

Have you considered laser cutting the material? No vacuum required as there are no cutting forces. Don't know your sizes of parts, but flat bed lasers might be a better idea. I can do 32" x18" on mine and it's considered small.[/QUOTE]
I am considering a laser, not sure why but it has fallen out of favor with a lot of the big boys. I am looking into it now.
Mcritchley,
That is exactly the product I am leaning towards now. The smallest ones are huge.
Gary

adama · Apr 22, 2017

probaly fume extraction + The heat curing the edge of prepeg.

jatt · Jun 17, 2017

Check into a flatbed fabric machine. The ones tent and awning shops use. A mate of mine is cutting up prepreg carbon with his.

I am low volume, i use a olfa rotary cutter on a mat.

Only just noticed this, so hopefully not too long ago.

Mine works the same, as in uses a Olfa rotary cutter.

Z axis is simply done by air pressure. According to tech, there is one setup about 1/2 an hour away that spends its days cutting cardboard, but I haven't seen it myself.

Tooling is setup as camlock, so can swap out easiy.

Vacuum setup is simply 3x single phase (over here 240V) pumps, which I can switch in and out as required. Due to fact I am limited by domestic rated power, have to switch them on in delayed sequence.

Table size is 3200mm wide x 3600 long. Small for a this kind of table, but as space in shop is limited, it will have to do at the moment.

Table surface is HDPE and vacuum is (you will laugh at this) distributed under the table with 100mm (4 in) sewer pipe.

Scruffy887 · Jun 17, 2017

jatt said:
Only just noticed this, so hopefully not too long ago.

Mine works the same, as in uses a Olfa rotary cutter.

Z axis is simply done by air pressure. According to tech, there is one setup about 1/2 an hour away that spends its days cutting cardboard, but I haven't seen it myself.

Tooling is setup as camlock, so can swap out easiy.

Vacuum setup is simply 3x single phase (over here 240V) pumps, which I can switch in and out as required. Due to fact I am limited by domestic rated power, have to switch them on in delayed sequence.

Table size is 3200mm wide x 3600 long. Small for a this kind of table, but as space in shop is limited, it will have to do at the moment.

Table surface is HDPE and vacuum is (you will laugh at this) distributed under the table with 100mm (4 in) sewer pipe.

I used a lot of pvc pipe in setting up my cnc router. I have a 25 hp rotary vane pump (Becker) for my 5 x 12 table and parts are sitting on top on a light weight mdf spoil board. 25 hp was considered on the light side for a 5 x 12 table but I have never used it beyond 30" x 12'

jatt · Jun 18, 2017

I'm only cutting fabric, so don't need a huge vacuum unit. My table in this size is generally run with 1x 3ph vac pump, but mine (prob using the same pump) is wired up as a single phase. Each single ph runs a section of 1200 x 3200mm. For each pump there is an air actuated cutout whereby I can shutoff the last 1000mm, so effectively reducing the suction area to 2200mm. Naturally not all fabrics are of the same width, and some require more suction power than others to keep them in place.

G00 Proto · Jun 19, 2017

I'm glad this topic came back up. I saw a cool machine on Craigslist in Seattle last week. Some sort of ultrasonic CNC cutting machine. I have never heard of such a thing, but it seems like a pretty cool idea for cutting fabrics and composites.... not cool enough to drive over to Seattle to see it, but kinda cool none the less.

US-15 Ultrasonic Cutting Table Info - wanted - by owner - sale

jatt · Jun 20, 2017

Yeah in the industrial fabrics game ultrasonic and laser are becoming more common. On synthetic materials that fray easily a cauterised edge is definitely an advantage in some applications. Window furnishings come to mind.

They require a different table surface to mine. I knew the cost for me would be prohibitive, so didn't investigate further. Heard that some run with a ceramic surface, others steel.

Its not much different to other forms of PC controlled cutting, of course with the exception that I done have to worry about the Z axis. So long as I factor in enough air pressure and ensure my cutter is sharp.

So in a nutshell I can draw lines, cut and crease with the basic tools on the machine.

John Welden · Jun 20, 2017

Big vac pumps don't pull harder. They take the air that can be taken away faster than a small pump and if there is a leak, overcome it until part is down.

Vac pumps don't pull the part down.
The atmosphere pushes the part down.

jatt · Jun 21, 2017

[QUOTE if there is a leak, overcome it until part is down.[/QUOTE]

Some wrapping plastic over the uncovered holes really helps.

gkoenig · Jun 22, 2017

Johnny Larue said:
are you aware of this machine for Kevlar and composites...its a large 3d printer...bad azzzz

That's awesome... How do they get the mandrel out when the carbon is finished laying up around it?

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