Cutting fiberglass

[Charlie Jones]

IF there are any of you out there who have NOT discovered the roller style cloth cutters ( sold in Walmart FOR 9.97) for cutting fiberglass, run don't walk to your nearest cloth sales outlet and BUY one.

JT Weigandt , who posts on here occasionally, tipped me about them.

WOW!!!

I cut about 50 strips today in about 15 minutes, using the roller cutter and a steel straight edge-ONE roll across the fabric and I had a straight, clean edged cut.

I should had one of these 20 years ago.

[capt jake]

I should had one of these 20 years ago.

Problem with that is they weren't around back then. Tom Lathrop turned me onto that also. I bought one. Darndest thing though, I haven't had a project to use it on yet.

[Barnacle Jim]

Ahoy Charlie,

Thanks for the tip. I hate cutting fiberglass. Even when I write about cutting fiberglass, I start to scratch. Whenever I cut, there is always some untidy string somewhere, the one you don't see until you begin to apply the epoxy.

[kydocfrog]

These things are great, but they are a lot more than the kind of upscale pizza cutters they resemble. They are unbelievably sharp and exposed.

I know. I removed the end of finger with one one evening.

DocFrog

[Tom Lathrop]

These things are great' date=' but they are a lot more than the kind of upscale pizza cutters they resemble. They are unbelievably sharp and exposed.

I know. I removed the end of finger with one one evening.

DocFrog[/quote']

Doc, That's why they put the sliding plastic guard on them. :wink:

[kydocfrog]

Right.

But the guard isn't in place when you are cutting and the &(*& thing hits a bump and jumps over the edge of your metal staight edge right at your index finger that is busy holding the straight edge.

It is a major ouch. Or as we used to say in the military an "Aw-Fooey" or words to that effect.

DocA

[Tom Lathrop]

My sympathies Doc, but I don' use no stinkin' straightedge. As old Strother Martin might say, what we have here is a steering problem. I tried to do away with the end of a finger also, but on another machine. :oops:

More seriously, I sometimes lay down a black marker line on the cutting board that can be seen through the cloth and cut to that. A plank or 2X4 held down nearby will keep the cloth from creeping. The backing board can be most anything that you don't plan to use in a critical job later, MDF, CDX or whatever.