Drilling of composite fiberglass material has been difficult and, for some, a mystery. The ability to accurately drill holes in composite fiberglass material has been the subject matter of numerous articles and how to demonstrations. Composites offer the benefits of part integration and minimization along with substantial savings in weight. Along with this is a reduction in the requirements for machining operations that need to be performed to complete an assembly. However all drilling and cutting operations can not be avoided completely in most cases. There are several types of machining operations that can be performed on composites such as turning, drilling, routing, trimming, sanding, and milling. Most of these operations are similar to metal removal techniques but there are some differences that need to be addressed in order to make clean, high quality holes and cutouts in composites.
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