Woo! I've tone a ton of this stuff. Way better to run it dry than to make a paste out of your coolant. I ended up mag clamping down a shop vac hose to the spindle to remove dust from my enclosure. Works great!
Yeah it’s not that nasty. It’s just canvas compressed together with epoxy but you were right about G10 as it has glass fibre running throughout in layers to give it strength and it’s nasty stuff. When I make knives I prefer to use linen or canvas micarta or even hessian micarta or jeans micarta and it epoxy glues to the knife handles better than G10. Stay away from G10 it’s not worth the hassle and it eats saws as you so very rightly pointed out and also tooling like end mills
Hey John, after sanding, dip cover it in epoxy, let the epoxy cure fully, around 24 hrs, then post cure it to the max temp of epoxy, then sand it, 200, 320, 400, 600, 800, and 1000, followed by polishing it. You'll get a great finish that way. Don't use oil, oil will only help in eventual delamination.
Turned that material for a job I did 20 years ago. Boss had me use high speed tooling in a Daewoo 8S lathe. Made me turn the coolant on and afterwards I spent a half a day cleaning out the machine. Nasty stuff indeed!!
Shops that I have been in that run graphite and nasty fiber materials like this often use a fluid curtain around the part to control the dust that goes into the air.
I media blast some of my knife handle scales, G10, Micarta and even wood. It gives it a bit more grip texture and is aesthetically pleasing as well. It all depends on what my customers would like.
Mills are great for cutting laminates and composite materials compared to waterjets for 2D shapes. With waterjets you risk delamination regardless, even if you use a low pressure pierce before cutting. Also not sure if this would apply to something you are cutting so fast (and since you are using your Tormach 770) but sometimes flood coolant REALLY helps keep the dust down on composites and it kind of gums up what would otherwise be the dust. I have a small homebuilt CNC router and if I ever cut carbon fiber I water mist over it and there's no dust at all. Just dust stained water I have to vacuum up lol.
My experience with cutting G10/FR-4 or similar fiberglass is that using a fiber reinforced abrasive cutoff wheel on a dremel, or some similar but larger tool gives easy cuts and perfectly smooth edges. For best results, use a fixed tool and sliding material. Even hand guided cuts this way will be locally flat in the direction of cut. This is what I use for getting flat cuts on FR-4 PCB material. I don't recommend a hacksaw as the cut is rough. I don't know about Micarta though.
Had to machine the new prototype test fixtures for the F-14D avionics boards. The idea was to convert the F-14 to a glass cockpit. After we got the test fixtures built, the engineers could test them and propose mods.
This isn't to come off as a nag or a killjoy or a jerk- but when dealing with materials that present a respiratory threat? I kick Sig the Husky out of the shop. Our furry palls have crazy sensitive respiratory systems and it isn't like we can put respirators on them. Way safer to get them out of dodge and not take any risks. We all love the Judd!
I mill a lot of G10 (plus copper clad fr4 and carbon fiber). Usually I run the spindle speed a little high so there's enough heat in the epoxy to clump the dust. I don't get any airborne unless I try to brush the stuff off mid-op to check the cutting. Carbon fiber on the other hand, you can build a fixture with a rim around the edge, fill with water and mill it wet... Then wet vac it out. Your body won't reject carbon so if you get any carbon fiber in your lungs its there to stay! Also, carbon fiber splinters suck.
chris0tube Micarta is a catch all term for a woven material sandwiched in phenolic resin. So you can have canvas, fiberglass, paper, Kevlar, carbon fiber, linen, burlap etc Micarta. Bakelite is just a plastic though, an early plastic. It’s not a form of Micarta.
chris0tube I suppose you could make Micarta using Bakelite instead of phenolic resin. Both are thermoplastics so I can’t see why not. Can’t say I’ve hear of reinforced Bakelite before... or anyone still using Bakelite for that matter
Canvas Micarta is significantly different than G10. The Micarta does not contain glass fibers, which is an improvement safety wise over G10. There is no need to use air blast, it actually makes the situation worse with blowing dust all over the place. No need for special tooling either. Can easily be cut with standard tools. I have been cutting the canvas micarta with a single flute, and actually making a chip reduces the level of dust. (And using a regular endmill also helps to reduce the dust.)
Not surprising that you get a weird texture machining into the fibers like that. You need a skim coat of resin to seal the surface. Actual G10 I think would have killed your hacksaw blade before you got more than an inch into it. I've cut GPO3, which is pretty similar, on a jig saw and it wore the teeth off the blade very quickly. When I went to drill it I used some cheap diamond cutting bits for ceramic tile, which worked great. Next time I go to cut the stuff I'm going to get an abrasive diamond coated blade for the jigsaw.
Adam Brackney Micarta is the process (also the brand name) of sandwiching thin layers of material between resin. G-10 IS micarta. As is canvas, paper, Kevlar, carbon fiber, etc layered between resin. is all micarta.
Aaron Cross And Micarta is a trademark name of the Industrial Laminates company. Just like Delrin is a trademark name of DuPont for acetal plastic and Band-Aid is a trademark name of Johnson & Johnson for adhesive bandages. So, Micarta, although it’s technically just s brand name, is used to refer to any material produced by sandwiching layers of some cloth or woven material between layers of phenolic resin.
Looks like he added a correction to the video and has called it "canvas micarta"....which is totally different than G10...which is more like a fiberglass laminate. Canvas micarta is layers of fabric compressed with resin...I've cut hundreds of pieces of both materials.
G10 when basically powdered like that will give off toxic gas (it gives a litte of formaldehyde off as you work it/grind it). Yes you need a respirator with a P100 filter with organic vapor filter as a BASIC. Not only that but a dust mask won't be able to filter out all the dust and this stuff will build up in your lungs.
Interesting stuff to machine! Just be careful... oils ain't oils as they say. For example Linseed oil is good at coating/sealing and protecting things like wood and fibers. Normal petroleum based oils like that 3 in 1 will cause them to swell. You can see this happen all the time when someone is a little too liberal with the oil cleaning firearms over time. Need to soak the parts in acetone to extract the oil and shrink the stocks back.
That doesn’t look like G-10 composite. Either that or you got FR 4 which is woven glass cloth layered between resin for fire resistance. They list it as G-10 sometimes but it’s really not. It’s FR-4. Or you got Kevlar filled. Either way, that doesn’t look like G-10 at all. G-10 is a pale green color, super thin laminations, and no real color variations between the layers. You got some different material that’s for sure. Either Kevlar or Carbon Fiber composite. But whatever that is. It’s not G-10.
Study up on the OSHA regs for respirator use, you are on their radar now... essentially they want engineering controls instead of PPE, where a respirator could be required. If you are using a respirator it is easy for an inspector to fine you for something related to the respirator. For example we had an issue maintaining the requisite medical evaluation documents because HIPAA prohibits an employer from accessing confidential health information. Don't assume you can skate by with just a dust mask instead, carefully read the OSHA regulations and you will find that the rules that apply to a respirator also apply to a dust mask, unless it is not NIOSH certified, which means the dust mask is about as useful as wrapping a bandanna over your face. We machine a lot of G10 (actual G10 not micarta) and carbon fiber with flood coolant so respirators aren't needed. Cleaning out the coolant tanks is a chore though.
The machine I use at work, has a garbage Fanuc controller. It only has 256KB of memory. It's absolute ass tier at processing to make it worse. Just a moderate detail of code to do rads, and I'm only able to push the tool maybe 40 Inches (1m) a minute, before the controller starts choking. That's only 2 axis. It's even worse at processing 3 axis at once. Retrofit that machine with Path Pilot, and I bet it would do better.
Apologies for the material mistake! We were given the piece (and thought it was G10...) - thanks for clarifying that it's Canvas Micrarta!
Woo! I've tone a ton of this stuff. Way better to run it dry than to make a paste out of your coolant. I ended up mag clamping down a shop vac hose to the spindle to remove dust from my enclosure. Works great!
NYC CNC
Guess you gotta get some G-10 now for redemption 😆
The whole time I was thinking "wow, g10 looks just like micarta"... Anybody else?
Yeah it’s not that nasty. It’s just canvas compressed together with epoxy but you were right about G10 as it has glass fibre running throughout in layers to give it strength and it’s nasty stuff. When I make knives I prefer to use linen or canvas micarta or even hessian micarta or jeans micarta and it epoxy glues to the knife handles better than G10. Stay away from G10 it’s not worth the hassle and it eats saws as you so very rightly pointed out and also tooling like end mills
Hey John, after sanding, dip cover it in epoxy, let the epoxy cure fully, around 24 hrs, then post cure it to the max temp of epoxy, then sand it, 200, 320, 400, 600, 800, and 1000, followed by polishing it. You'll get a great finish that way. Don't use oil, oil will only help in eventual delamination.
Turned that material for a job I did 20 years ago. Boss had me use high speed tooling in a Daewoo 8S lathe. Made me turn the coolant on and afterwards I spent a half a day cleaning out the machine. Nasty stuff indeed!!
Shops that I have been in that run graphite and nasty fiber materials like this often use a fluid curtain around the part to control the dust that goes into the air.
I media blast some of my knife handle scales, G10, Micarta and even wood. It gives it a bit more grip texture and is aesthetically pleasing as well. It all depends on what my customers would like.
Some of the stuff you have done lately would work well on a CNC router (with dust collection)
Mills are great for cutting laminates and composite materials compared to waterjets for 2D shapes. With waterjets you risk delamination regardless, even if you use a low pressure pierce before cutting.
Also not sure if this would apply to something you are cutting so fast (and since you are using your Tormach 770) but sometimes flood coolant REALLY helps keep the dust down on composites and it kind of gums up what would otherwise be the dust. I have a small homebuilt CNC router and if I ever cut carbon fiber I water mist over it and there's no dust at all. Just dust stained water I have to vacuum up lol.
My experience with cutting G10/FR-4 or similar fiberglass is that using a fiber reinforced abrasive cutoff wheel on a dremel, or some similar but larger tool gives easy cuts and perfectly smooth edges. For best results, use a fixed tool and sliding material. Even hand guided cuts this way will be locally flat in the direction of cut. This is what I use for getting flat cuts on FR-4 PCB material. I don't recommend a hacksaw as the cut is rough. I don't know about Micarta though.
John ok you had a respirator on when sawing what about Jude ,those partials will be airborne in the shop and dogs do sniff around a lot
Keep safe
Had to machine the new prototype test fixtures for the F-14D avionics boards. The idea was to convert the F-14 to a glass cockpit. After we got the test fixtures built, the engineers could test them and propose mods.
Hey John try buffing it for that finished look your looking for, green compound works fine...
1:08 "Do not want to breath it".
Doggo under the piece: do I mean nothing to you!
This isn't to come off as a nag or a killjoy or a jerk- but when dealing with materials that present a respiratory threat? I kick Sig the Husky out of the shop. Our furry palls have crazy sensitive respiratory systems and it isn't like we can put respirators on them. Way safer to get them out of dodge and not take any risks. We all love the Judd!
-_That's not a knife, that's a spoon._
-_Alright, alright, you win. I see you've played knifey/spoony before._
I mill a lot of G10 (plus copper clad fr4 and carbon fiber). Usually I run the spindle speed a little high so there's enough heat in the epoxy to clump the dust. I don't get any airborne unless I try to brush the stuff off mid-op to check the cutting. Carbon fiber on the other hand, you can build a fixture with a rim around the edge, fill with water and mill it wet... Then wet vac it out. Your body won't reject carbon so if you get any carbon fiber in your lungs its there to stay! Also, carbon fiber splinters suck.
close up at the two finished pieces would have been great and even better to see them mounted. Greetings.
Hi John, are you sure this is g10?
It looks like it is micarta, with textile fibres and not glass.
chris0tube
Micarta is a catch all term for a woven material sandwiched in phenolic resin.
So you can have canvas, fiberglass, paper, Kevlar, carbon fiber, linen, burlap etc Micarta.
Bakelite is just a plastic though, an early plastic. It’s not a form of Micarta.
chris0tube
I suppose you could make Micarta using Bakelite instead of phenolic resin. Both are thermoplastics so I can’t see why not.
Can’t say I’ve hear of reinforced Bakelite before... or anyone still using Bakelite for that matter
no dust with flood coolant :)
You got that right, G10 is nasty stuff. 😁 I don’t mess with it much anymore. I prefer some nice ironwood or exotic handle material. :)
I've tried everything to minimize dust. I got some advice and submersion cut really thin G10 material all the time
Canvas Micarta is significantly different than G10. The Micarta does not contain glass fibers, which is an improvement safety wise over G10. There is no need to use air blast, it actually makes the situation worse with blowing dust all over the place. No need for special tooling either. Can easily be cut with standard tools. I have been cutting the canvas micarta with a single flute, and actually making a chip reduces the level of dust. (And using a regular endmill also helps to reduce the dust.)
May i ask what kind of feeds and speeds you are using? Looking to cut epoxy with denim myself.
@@luctimmen I'm using standard feeds and speeds for aluminum. 30k rpm, 1524mm/min, 5mm single flute.
Were you using your standard mist recipe with the air blast? My guess would be for dust control and not so much lubricity or heat removal.
Not surprising that you get a weird texture machining into the fibers like that. You need a skim coat of resin to seal the surface.
Actual G10 I think would have killed your hacksaw blade before you got more than an inch into it. I've cut GPO3, which is pretty similar, on a jig saw and it wore the teeth off the blade very quickly. When I went to drill it I used some cheap diamond cutting bits for ceramic tile, which worked great. Next time I go to cut the stuff I'm going to get an abrasive diamond coated blade for the jigsaw.
I see you're moving into Grimsmo's market ;P
BoM podcast was just espionage
mlnlme1 Saunders flashlight and spinners are next 😨
epox and sand gets better results than oiling. woulda liked a closeup at the end.
How do you clean up your machine after working with something like this?
Do you put a rag over your coolant drain to avoid contamination?
Path pilot question - is your post processor set to g61 or g64? If g64 what do you have the p value set at? Your mill runs smoothly.
I saw a knife handle made of laminated denim; I wonder how that would machine.
Question - how is made the micarta material that looks like ivory?
That's not G10. Looks like a canvas micarta.
i agree...
Adam Brackney
Micarta is the process (also the brand name) of sandwiching thin layers of material between resin. G-10 IS micarta. As is canvas, paper, Kevlar, carbon fiber, etc layered between resin. is all micarta.
Aaron Cross
Having cut my fair share of G-10. That looks nothing like G-10.
Aaron Cross
And Micarta is a trademark name of the Industrial Laminates company.
Just like Delrin is a trademark name of DuPont for acetal plastic and Band-Aid is a trademark name of Johnson & Johnson for adhesive bandages.
So, Micarta, although it’s technically just s brand name, is used to refer to any material produced by sandwiching layers of some cloth or woven material between layers of phenolic resin.
Looks like he added a correction to the video and has called it "canvas micarta"....which is totally different than G10...which is more like a fiberglass laminate. Canvas micarta is layers of fabric compressed with resin...I've cut hundreds of pieces of both materials.
Ever tried Ice?
180 kB, large file size ;)
Nice one John, glad that was not G10. IMO unless you hate your machines don't ever run glass based materials on it, its just not worth it.
ATB, Robin
Dust mask is actually adequate. Don't need a full respirator. But yes, nasty stuff.
G10 when basically powdered like that will give off toxic gas (it gives a litte of formaldehyde off as you work it/grind it). Yes you need a respirator with a P100 filter with organic vapor filter as a BASIC. Not only that but a dust mask won't be able to filter out all the dust and this stuff will build up in your lungs.
Minus it's not G10
Yeah micarta will do basically the same thing it still gives off formaldehyde.
Interesting stuff to machine!
Just be careful... oils ain't oils as they say.
For example Linseed oil is good at coating/sealing and protecting things like wood and fibers.
Normal petroleum based oils like that 3 in 1 will cause them to swell.
You can see this happen all the time when someone is a little too liberal with the oil cleaning firearms over time.
Need to soak the parts in acetone to extract the oil and shrink the stocks back.
100% canvas micarta.
If this is micarta as the title says (it also looks like micarta), then there is no health risk involved. Micarta isn’t Glas fiber but linnen!
You might paint super glue on it, and polish. Works for pens!
That doesn’t look like G-10 composite.
Either that or you got FR 4 which is woven glass cloth layered between resin for fire resistance. They list it as G-10 sometimes but it’s really not. It’s FR-4.
Or you got Kevlar filled.
Either way, that doesn’t look like G-10 at all. G-10 is a pale green color, super thin laminations, and no real color variations between the layers.
You got some different material that’s for sure. Either Kevlar or Carbon Fiber composite.
But whatever that is. It’s not G-10.
There's that knife handle video...lol
Study up on the OSHA regs for respirator use, you are on their radar now... essentially they want engineering controls instead of PPE, where a respirator could be required. If you are using a respirator it is easy for an inspector to fine you for something related to the respirator. For example we had an issue maintaining the requisite medical evaluation documents because HIPAA prohibits an employer from accessing confidential health information. Don't assume you can skate by with just a dust mask instead, carefully read the OSHA regulations and you will find that the rules that apply to a respirator also apply to a dust mask, unless it is not NIOSH certified, which means the dust mask is about as useful as wrapping a bandanna over your face.
We machine a lot of G10 (actual G10 not micarta) and carbon fiber with flood coolant so respirators aren't needed. Cleaning out the coolant tanks is a chore though.
The machine I use at work, has a garbage Fanuc controller. It only has 256KB of memory. It's absolute ass tier at processing to make it worse. Just a moderate detail of code to do rads, and I'm only able to push the tool maybe 40 Inches (1m) a minute, before the controller starts choking. That's only 2 axis. It's even worse at processing 3 axis at once.
Retrofit that machine with Path Pilot, and I bet it would do better.
Watch out grimsmo
So do not want to breathe it yet dog is hanging out right there. Dick move. Also that's ce garolite or canvas micarta.
Nothing but a non-stop advertising... No real info given - don't even care to check what material it is... I miss how this channel used to be :/