Cutting Table Material 1

[matteo2u]

In our composite department, we use utility knifes and templates to cut our prepreg material by hand. Our cutting tables are currently surfaced by a fairly soft plastic sheet that, after cutting on it enough, starts to leave cuttings of plastic stuck to the material. we are looking for a surface for these tables that will not shred apart like this, but will also not dull our blades. We are of course on a budget as well.

Any help is greatly appreciated,

Matt Stevens
Process Design Engineer
K&N Air Filters

 

[Demon3]

What's the material you use now? Does it seem like a plastic cutting board like you use in the kitchen? I.e. polyethylene. My first suggestion is a polyethylene board, works well and is really cheap. Next up would be nylon, may work better but will be somewhat more expensive. These are just my best guesses. If someone with experience of making cutting boards weighs in then listen to them instead.

You can buy small sheets of material to try for example from McMaster Carr online.

Chris DeArmitt PhD FRSC CChem

http://www.phantomplastics.com

Consultant to the plastics industry

 

[Compositepro]

Everyone uses urethane sheets about 1/4" to 1/2" thick for cutting with razor blades. It is a very tough rubber that strongly resists shedding of cut slivers that result in gouges in the surface. The slivers cause contamination and the gouges make the surface unsuitable for cutting on. You can get the sheets from Airtech and probably most of the bagging suppliers. These are not cheap but they do last a long time. Cutting technique has a lot to do with how long the cutting surface lasts. Cutting deeply into the surface is bad and wastes time and energy. Always cut with the blade vertical. Cutting with the blade out of vertical will result in intersecting "Vee" cuts in the rubber, which will release slivers.

An alternative is to use "pizza cutter" type rolling blades rather than razors. For this type of cutter plate glass is often used for the cutting surface.

Razor blades are far more commonly used.

 

[Hansmeister]

Some shops use 3/8" tempered glass.

Stanley knife blades are cheap.

 

[materialsliz]

We use mainly HDPE sheets on our hand cutting tables. It lasts quite a long time but can be expensive depending on the size. We buy 4' x 8' sheets and cut to fit the size of the table. "Scrap" bits are cut to hand size and used as pusher blocks during layup.

 

[TheBigM]

Urethane sheet every time. The marks cut by the blade virtually disappear after the blade has passed.
I would advise against glass simply because you can get sparks from the blade (not good in a static sensitive environment) and also its easy for the blade to slip on the surface creating a danger to the operator (speaking from bitter experience).