G10 & CNCs

[walterpancakes]

Any thoughts on running G10 on CNCs? I had been running them on an older machine but now have a brand spankin new Haas and it makes me wonder if its something I might want to avoid Due to the abrasive nature of G10. Thought about getting a small CNC router like the Shopbot and running those types of materials on it vs the VMC.

Obviously a vac system is a good idea going this route. Just wondering what others have to say.

Thanks!

 

[Nathan the Machinist]

I wouldn't run a lot of G10 or carbon fiber inside a machining center I cared about unless it's specifically designed for it. We run a lot of these materials so we finally had to get a machine that is built in a way to tolerate the abrasive fines.

We have modified our sumps and run big centrifugal pumps to feed filtered coolant to the coolant pumps, otherwise there is a lot of trash suspended in the coolant.

The new machining center is designed so coolant never sees the way covers, they stay dry. This protects the way covers, ways and screws from early wear.

 

[walterpancakes]

Nathan,
Thanks for that response. I was thinking you would chime in quick. Your custom setup sounds cool. Would love to know more about that.
Looks like I may just look at a router setup with vac and air filtration.

Thanks again.

 

[HSC ///]

Nathan's point is well made, but I can tell you we have run a few thousand G10 scales on our Fadals and we don't really notice anything.
However our Fadal's are going on 18 yrs and run mostly Inconel castings so they are beat up pretty good, very different than you "brand spankin new Haas"
We ran them wet with coolant.