Hey guys,
I will need to cut a NICE CLEAN 1.25" (32mm) hole in a solid piece of fiberglass/epoxy. The material thickness will be .5" (13mm)
There are a lot of coating options out there for hole saws:
Bi-Metal
Diamond coated
Cobalt
etc.
What do you use to produce the cleanest cutout?
(Speed of cut is not very important)
We did a number of test at the America’s Cup team I worked for. The most dimensionally accurate holes were produced by Hougen carbide annular cutters. Not cheap, around $50 for an 1.25", plus you’ll need an adapter (purchased or made) to fit it into a normal drill or drill press.
Wow- working on a Cup boat. Quite the race last year- lots of high technology and intense drama, that’s for sure.
The best is to use a CNC and helical interpolation: http://youtu.be/liBecLivkc4
When I needed an accurate hole (and didn’t have a CNC) I’d use a RemGrit (http://www.disstontools.com/remgrit.html) hole saw a few mm smaller and then bore the hole to size. This would minimize fibre blowout on the back face.
Bumping for Drby. 