Best!! thing to cut fiberglass

[Steve K]

You may already know this, but thought I'd share.
I needed to cut a hole to mount my new VHF radio. My brother-in-law had given me this thing for Xmas, made by Ryobi. It was a case with one of those vibrating tools and a heavy duty dremel type tool.
Having not used either of these yet, I thought I'd try the vibrating tool to cut the hole. It came with a little saw blade looking thing and various scraping/sanding attachments.
I drilled four holes @ the corners of the rectangle to be cut out (to match the radius of the rounded corners of the VHF). Then I used this vibrating thing with the saw blade attachment, to cut the straight lines.

I have never found anything to cut fiberglass that cuts easier
I set the dial to 4 (about half speed) and it ate right through the panel. The control was sublime and there was little mess and flying fiberglass dust. This will be my tool of choice for cutting fiberglass in the future

Best Breezes,
Steve K.
Mac 26D "Three Sheets"

[kmclemore]

Cool. I've not used one of those yet, so glad to hear it worked out OK.

BTW, I'm assuming you were wearing a mask, and that you talcum-powered yourself prior to beginning.

[Ixneigh]

Chainsaw works pretty good too

[Ormonddude]

4-1/2" angle grinder man myself

[yukonbob]

PO used a hammer to install the downrigger base. And no I'm not kidding.

[Highlander]

4-1/2" angle grinder man myself

Yes with a speed 200 cutting blade cuts like butter creates a bit of dust which can be avoided if u have some beside u with a shop vac

J

[Highlander]

Cool. I've not used one of those yet, so glad to hear it worked out OK.

BTW, I'm assuming you were wearing a mask, and that you talcum-powered yourself prior to beginning.

Nah two large straws inside the nostrils & suck her all up talcum powder & all

if u can have someone with a filtered shop-vac running behind the cut u'll have no mess at all

J
PS I bought one of these last yr on sale half price & forgot about using it yesterday instead of the 4" angle grinder geeze its a bummer getting old !!

[tomchitecture]

It took me a while to find the angle grinder cutting wheel, but once I did, I never looked back. I have also used it for some very delicate shaping work. For me, its about the only tool for the job.

[BOAT]

I have an angle grinder and I am going to cut some fiberglass. What kind of wheel are you guys recomending? I was not clear on what grinding wheel to get. It seems like they offer steel or masonary cutting as thin wheels and then the thick ones are called grinding wheels. What am I missing?

[cruiser]

I have an angle grinder and I am going to cut some fiberglass. What kind of wheel are you guys recomending? I was not clear on what grinding wheel to get. It seems like they offer steel or masonary cutting as thin wheels and then the thick ones are called grinding wheels. What am I missing?

I used a Flexovit 100 x 2.5 x 16 General Purposde disc (PN1010216) to cut the opening to install an Origo stove in my boat. The 1mm disc [PN15102010] may even be better but it did not fit the spindle arbor on my angle grinder. Had no problems with the 2.5mm disc, it just cut through like butter - but with lots of mess.

Best to use cheap disposable coverall suit and definitely a good respirator + vaccum held close to cutting disc to suck up as much dust as possible. I did some fancier cutting (small arcs and odd shapes) inside the lazarette with a dremel tool - even finer dust I think, but then again it was a very confined space.

Purchased one of these http://www.xuone.com.au/xmt-701 Multifunction tools some time back but have only used it on wood so far - does a great job for cutting odd shapes. Will be using it later this week to cut a hole in the front liner of the boat for getting acress to the bow eye and installing anchor chocks up front.

[Ormonddude]

I have an angle grinder and I am going to cut some fiberglass. What kind of wheel are you guys recomending? I was not clear on what grinding wheel to get. It seems like they offer steel or masonary cutting as thin wheels and then the thick ones are called grinding wheels. What am I missing?

Oh sorry I forgot to mention I used a steel blade from harbor freight for pretty much everything they cost like 50 cents a piece in a 10 pack and I rarely cut masonry, not super messy maybe 2mm thick does not bind or pull definitely use a respirator I don't care what you cut with.

[cruiser]

I eventually spent $70-80 replacing my old respirator with a new double cartridge one
http://www.protectoralsafe.com.au/searc ... /307219903.
Figured I want to make every year count from here on . Should have thought along those lines years ago .

[Steve K]

I've used just about everything mentioned above (except chainsaw and hammer maybe ).
I did use angle grinder with cut-off wheel for the last few projects and it work well, control wise, but what a mess.
The new tool is the bomb.

I have an old Tyvek suit to keep FB dust off me, a mask and a little fixture for the shop vac that I can attach to almost any tool. (duct tape ).

Still, this thing beats anything I've used for this purpose, over the 20 years and four old boats I've had.
(Not to mention other fiberglass repairs I did in the USN and when I use restore cars).

SK

[BOAT]

"My brother-in-law had given me this thing for Xmas, made by Ryobi. It was a case with one of those vibrating tools and a heavy duty dremel type tool. "


Is that tool thing on the internet? I would like to see it. I have a dremel tool, but my dremel tool does not have any saw like vibrating thing on it. I want to see the one you used that works so good. I need to cut some really THICK FB (the helm seat to be specific) and I want to make it a very clean and nice looking cut.

[Obelix]

I use this tool, works great.
http://www.harborfreight.com/oscillatin ... MyJ9%0D%0A

Obelix