Hi Everyone,

Hopefully a few of you have noticed that we've been publishing a number of new video tutorials recently. I've now published the first two (out of three) of a new series which shows the end-to-end process for starting from a CAD design, CNC machining the pattern from epoxy block then sealing and preparing the pattern before taking a prepreg carbon fibre mould off the pattern. In the next video (not done yet) we'll finish off by using the prepreg mould to produce a carbon fibre part.

Essentially, in this series what we're trying to demonstrate is the 'other way' to make composite parts, using technology and high tech materials to replace the more manual traditional methods. This is a topic that comes up every time during our training courses and so hopefully this is a process (and tutorial series) that people will find interesting (and maybe useful). The price of perfectly usable CNC equipment is coming down all the time and the quality and availability of 3D CAD systems (like Fusion360) is moving the baseline of what is achievable at home or in a small workshop or business. Our new products and tutorials aim to support this revolution. Also, in this current climate where people are very focused on the idea that 3D printers are the answer to everything, hopefully we can steer a few people towards the understanding that for most composites processes a CNC router is a far more suitable piece of kit to invest in.

So, this first tutorial in the series we demonstrate how to CNC machine epoxy tooling board and then seal and finish it using epoxy board sealer.


I'd be very happy to discuss any of the topics raised in the videos including how these processes and materials might be used in your projects.

Matt Statham
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Sales

Hey guys,

I'm thinking about investing in an X-Carve system, as I have managed to find a local source of an equivalent product to the S120, so working with tooling board is all of a sudden a lot more of an option for me and I'm particularly interested in the production of tools for low volume production runs to reduce my manual workload a bit. I'm probably trying to run before I walk here given I haven't managed to sort out my issues with the XT135 yet, but still - I'm easily excited!

I wanted to see if I could get a bit more info on the actual setup for machining tooling board though, ie. what sort of bits would you recommend, what spindle speeds should I be looking at, do you find the feed rates etc. in the data sheets to be good or would you recommend playing with them, what is the thinnest material thickness you would recommend machining to (eg, if I have a 100mm piece of tooling board, what depth am I limited to before it becomes to brittle to use?). Although I've got my head around CAD design with F360, I've got no experience with CAM what-so-ever so I'm sure I've got a lot of playing around to do before I'm anywhere near ready to start messing around with tooling board, but I would just like to understand the process a bit better before I commit to the X-Carve.