I have tried a few things, such as my serrated scissors but it leaves the serated mark in the laminate, and also a grinding wheel, but instead of cutting the carbon away it almost pushes it away still leaving the weave exposed, and also a dremel with a small grinding wheel. What does everyone use to get crisp edges on their parts when cutting the excess off?
I usually cut the part when its in ‘stage b’ - I always find that a blade cuts through like butter but im unsure what to do when its fully cured.
Would be nice to hear from other people what methods they use to cut when its fully cured, especially intriqit details like the centre buttons for a plastic dash part.
I use a Fein Multimaster for straight lines and an air powered hacksaw for the bendy bits. I also use a die grinder with various cutters for other grinding stuff and forming tight radii.
They seem to work well for me on the low output I have.
I have used power sanders, power grinders, dremels, diamond wet saws, and even bandsaws with some sand paper.
If you have lots of fibers coming out, that means the part is very dry! My normal cutting around here is a wet saw, and then some sand paper to get rid of any saw marks, and if the first layers stick out.
I used to only use air power hacksaw, but I recently picked up a multimaster and I am now a convert. It works soooo good for trimming!
I mostly use this… the small sanding drum works great for sanding the edges down to the trim line.
http://www.dremel.com/en-us/Tools/Pages/ToolDetail.aspx?pid=10.8V+Lithium-ion+Cordless
This is what I use for trimming in conjunction with the Dremel…
The only issue with Dremel tool is to not overheat the thing. cut a little and then let it cool off.
A bandsaw comes in handy also.
My dremel did the job pretty well =) Was just curious if anyone was using any oddball tools to prevent cracking of the laminate etc, but dremel took care of it quite well.
I’ve had one dremel catch on fire due to the carbon dust buildup in the motor!!!
Oddly, it was sitting on a downdraft table…
I loved downdraft tables and air tools, like palm sanders, and wheel grinders. They work so much faster than dremels, and then you can blow off the dust 
Eh, everything is better when you have more tools!
The 5 axis cnc mill cuts parts just fine. Fast and accurate.
But for small parts, cut off wheels or router bits on AIR powered tools are best. DO NOT use electric Dremels for trimming carbon parts.
Electric drills are acceptable for making holes as there’s generally little dust produced.
Yeah, Dremel’s don’t last a long time when used for carbon fiber work. 
Mine has a worn out motor or brushes from all the dust. and carbon dust is especially tough because it is so abrasive.
Air tools do rock 
I have never used one as a cut off tool however… just didn’t have the right airtool for that purpose is all.
If you do decide to run air tools much, get a big air compressor that can keep up. 30 gallon 3hp won’t do - i learned that fast.
TET… how the heck are you cutting composites on a CNC mill? Are they relatively flat parts? What do your fixtures look like? photos please 
hey TET… do you know CNC programing and set up? Not putting you down at all… i’m trying to learn it and it’s been difficult.
Waterjet.
Let’s just say it’s a very large mill. Working surface is 10’ x 20’.
The parts are not flat at all, but complex contours with pockets and varying thickness. 20,000 rpm spindle.
I know enough about the setup and operation, but that’s why there are engineers for the programing and running of the machine.
But still a lot of hand tools.
I was always wondering if the big boys ,like yourself…still had to do what we small time boys had to do within the use of a lot of hand finishing on some parts ?
I always figured it would remain the norm…obviously more so on finesse type projects…and less so with bulk use composites.
I was in your neck of the woods again last week and kept wishing I could swing by for some eye candy ( pants)lol.
Cheers,Vinny
Yup…found that out too. It’s all about the duty cycle! Can’t have a 60/40 running 100% of the time. It goes plop.
I like using a carbide grit blade for a jig saw. The kind used for cutting tiles etc. Never dulls. Cuts like butter.
http://www.toolstation.com/images/library/stock/webbig/67688.jpg
What do you recommend for cutting this parts? I have a dremel now with tungsten carbide cutting disc and rotaries. Is there better way? Like reciprocating saw with carbide blade? Dremel make carbon dust everywhere around. I also wonder if reciprocating saw can be used only with thicker laminates (0,07" or 2+ mm). I still imagine how the saw cracks thin laminate.
Interesting blade… i’ve never seen those before.
Those carbide cutting discs are ok… but the fiber wheel cutting discs work better for cutting composites.
do you have a picture of such a disk? does dremel have one in their lineup?
I use carbide disc which are specialy suitable for composites. Look at Permagrid tools. Lot of Formula1 teams use their stuff…