Carbon Fiber Dust Safety Question

[Slow Riser]

For our neighbors to the south, winters in Canada are pretty cold and its difficult to work outdoors for any length of time.

Well, I do use some CF rods in some of my modelling and am thinking of working on them in my shop. I typically cut these rods with a Dremel cut-off tool. Needless to say, the cut particles are pretty fine.

I'm thinking of building a "dust box" which is connected to a shop vac. The question I have, is the filtration of the shop vac good enough to hold the CF dust?

The bag I would use is the special bags they use for catching the drywall dust. I'm not sure if this is good enough to capture the CF dust.

I know CF dust is pretty nasty and the last thing I would want to do is circulate it in the house.

Is this too dangerous to do?

[Dave Hederich]

I cut all of my CF rod with wire cutters. If you use the right kind, you can get really nice, fast, square cuts with no dust. What you want is something like this one:

http://airdyn.com/superior/cutter.htm

[leccyflyer]

Carbon fibres are pretty gross things if you ingest them, since reading up a little on them I only cut CF rod wet on a damp cloth or paper towel to catch hold of the dust. I would certainly never use a dremel cut off wheel on that stuff and I wouldn't want the dust flying about indoors and being breathed in. The cutters sound a much better bet.

If you are unlucky enough to get any of the actual fibres into yourself, and don't manage to get them all out, then things can get a bit more unpleasant. Even though most of us are carbon based it seems that our body isn't at all keen on the stuff.

Here's what happened to an NZ contributor to another forum- Warning, don't click on the link if you are squeamish :(

http://www27.brinkster.com/rennergateway/finger.htm

The story of that is that a piece of cartilage formed over about 18 months at the site of a cut caused by a piece of carbon fibre tube. He was using a cut-off wheel and the tube shattered with the result that a tiny piece got stuck in his finger. It was a clean cut and he thought that he'd got it all out but he didn't, some microscopically small fragments remained. The end result was a session under the surgeon's knife to remove the growth.

Dodgy stuff- take care when working with it.

Brian

[Alan W]

they do sell Hepa-grade filters for the shop vacc's.....costs a few $$$ more but its a better filter.

you can build a simple cutting/sanding box about 3'x2'x6" high, out of scrap lumber framing into the top section some peg board. A whole in the back of the frame for the shop vac nozzle....power up the Vac and Cut/Sand away.....all the debris is sucked into the holes of the peg board and into the Vac !!!

Also, if you use a large computer fan in the hole instead of the shop vac (make it interchangeable for dual purppose useage), its great for gluing and soldering on.....the fumes get sucked down and away from you


Alan W

[Slow Riser]

I'll look for the "rod" cutters and I will continue to cut the tubes outdoors. Just too dangerous to mess around with.

Cheers!

[vintage1]

Originally posted by Brian Cullen


The story of that is that a piece of cartilage formed over about 18 months at the site of a cut caused by a piece of carbon fibre tube. He was using a cut-off wheel and the tube shattered with the result that a tiny piece got stuck in his finger. It was a clean cut and he thought that he'd got it all out but he didn't, some microscopically small fragments remained. The end result was a session under the surgeon's knife to remove the growth.

Dodgy stuff- take care when working with it.

Brian

Well I have a warty callousy thing left over from a piece of blackthorn, I have had a serious infection from a shard of glass fiber insulation turning into a huge boil...just about anything that gets stuck in your skin that doesn't dissolve is likley to lead to interesting effects...I remember an apocryphal tale from my time in Africa, of someone walking into a hospital and complaining that his 'head was rattling' ...X-rays allegedly confirmed an encysted .22 caliber slug in his skull...at least 4 years old...he had no memory of being shot either. Hmmm.


You probably get more carbon particles in your lungs by walking down a busy city street full of diesel taxis and busses, frankly.

[Bob K]

Alright , I have to say something here.
I have worked in really heavy carbon fiber chopping environments for a living. While I am not advocating breathing this stuff, the bottom line is, carbon is not carcinogenic, as a matter of fact it is bio compatable. The fibers , having an aspect ratio ( longer than width ) have a way of hanging up in the avioli ( sp? ) in the lungs. But, you have to breath a LOT for it to get down that deep, and even then, it's pretty inert stuff.

Just cut your composites with a vacuum cleaner near the cutting bit and sweep/vacuum up after you are done. Honest, I've made my living in this stuff since 1978 and it's not the black death.

The resins and especially the catalysts are another matter.........

Bob K