Hello!
Our company does a lot of work for people who use composite tubes to make their own product. Some of these are bladder molded and after curing, need to be reamed out to a specific ID. We had some success with different cutting tools, but as of late we are experiencing a lot of difficulties. Our original cutting tool was a diamond (we assume) reamer which seemed to work okay, but the flutes clogged too easily. We then moved to a boring tool with a replaceable carbide tip. This too worked well for awhile, but ultimately failed us. We are now using a 4 flute carbide reamer which is cutting nicely, but it sometimes gets stuck in the part. We are running water from a sump to remove chips/cool the bit and I’m wondering if maybe it’s not removing the chips efficiently and we need to increase the flow rate.
These tubes are typically CF over fiberglass, and it’s the fiberglass we’re reaming out. The customer has ferrules and other attachments that fit into the ends of these parts (essentially handles) and is looking for that perfect fit.
Any ideas???
It may be worthwhile to look into ultrasonic machining. Its used on composites and other hard brittle materials. There is literature available referring to its use in machining ceramic-matrix-composites. The process can be very accurate and precise. There may be a machine shop in your area who specializes in machining composites who has an ultrasonic machine. I’ve seen one in action, and its quite impressive.
In general the diamond bit should do the job, but it may be of an unsuited design. Try to work with your supplier to find out the best design, or select another supplier.
Do you have any more information on the shop that did the work. Or anymore information to begin searching for an ultrasonic cutting service capable of cutting composites?
I believe the process I witnessed was RUM (rotary ultrasonic machining). I work for a large jet engine manufacturer as an engineer and I saw the machine in use in our machining and prototype technology lab. I don’t really have much information on it, as I just saw it walking through one day. I stopped and talked to the operator/engineer working the machine and it seemed pretty interesting to me.
http://www.ceramicindustry.com/articles/machining-ceramics-with-rotary-ultrasonic-machining