Dangers of machining carbon-fiber?

[Keith Foor]

Older thread but I figure it's important.
I can't speak effectively as to the health concerns of carbon fiber.
But I can tell you that the stuff IS conductive. And it will get everywhere.

I had a bad experience with this a number of years ago working for a customer that manufactured resin impregnated fibrous cloth.
They ran a good bit of carbon fiber and it would shed going through the machine before getting coated with resin. The fibers got on everything, including electrical equipment. I was working in a control box and had closed the door, I forgot to check something so I pulled the door open again quickly and the inrush of air blew a bunch of fibers across the main power feed (480) of the box, and boom. Luckily I didn't damage the 120K dollars in DC motor drives, but it sure scared the crap out of a bunch of people, including me.

Point is try to mitigate swarf from any conductive fiber as much as possible. We all know how metal dust will get a lot of places we don't want it. This stuff tends to be worse because it will float in the air.

 

[magicniner]

It is not oxygen we breath to live. Let me explain. It is our inherent carbon waste that must be evacuated from our lungs. So, yes, on land oxygen is the best binder. Deep sea divers use something entirely different from oxygen to breath. As for carbon fibre, the resins that bind it are not so cool & should be treated accordingly.

The gas mixes for deep sea divers replace the Nitrogen with other gasses less soluble in the body and less toxic than Nitrogen at high pressures, Oxygen is an essential component of any breathing gas, the Oxygen is still there in concentrations high enough to oxygenate the blood adequately and is not replaced by other gasses.

The threat from Nano Fibres is, as has been correctly stated above, from their physical interaction with living cells.

 

[BROCKWOOD]

Well written magicniner! Me thinks the journeyman that explained my understanding didn't make such a good grade in the class?

 

[BaronJ]

Hi Guys,

It horrifies me the number of times that references to videos are made that show bad and often dangerous practice are made as if they are the most perfect and correct way of doing something.

 

[C-Bag]

Hi Guys,

It horrifies me the number of times that references to videos are made that show bad and often dangerous practice are made as if they are the most perfect and correct way of doing something.

They just reflect the stupid shop practices I used to see every day. Sadly. I remember watching a lead man cutting the guards off a bench grinder along with another mech. He mumbled "ignorant and proud of it" and we went back to work.