Thanks to Sharp & Tappin Technology’s Compcut 200 advanced composite plate saw, cutting composite materials at Surrey’s Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences has become a whole lot easier.

Sharp & Tappin Technology is always delighted to find its machines involved in supporting both research and practical applications in an academic context. None more so, than the expanding role of its Compcut 200 advanced composite saw which was supplied to the Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (FEPS) at the University of Surrey back in 2018.

Here, the Compcut 200 plays an important role in the work of the Faculty’s mechanical workshop, a resource that serves a wide body of specialist academics, degree courses and postgraduate research.

“The expanding application of generic composite materials, particularly in projects undertaken by our Doctorate students, presented us with an increasing demand to accurately cut shapes and samples required for tensile testing,” states Surrey FEPS mechanical workshop technician, Myles Jenkinson. “Online research, coupled with a visit to the Advanced Engineering show led us to Sharp & Tappin Technology and its very practical and affordable Compcut 200 plate saw. An in-house demonstration here at the workshop convinced us that the Compcut 200 was more than capable of meeting our varied, irregular though at times exacting requirements.”

This has been very much the case, with the machine consistently cutting to a very high degree of accuracy across a wide range of composites. The intelligent functionality of the unit, coupled with its inherent ease of use, offers students the choice of having the samples cut for them by the workshop – or following the minimum of training – undertaking the process themselves.

“The Compcut 200 has certainly exceeded expectations and has definitely made a difference to our ability to machine challenging materials, which in turn has enabled our research students to explore composite applications in their project work,” adds Jenkinson.

A racing certainty

The Team SURTES project forms an important degree-level project at FEPS for engineering students and is recognised by the motorsport industry as the standard for engineering graduates to meet in their transition from university to the workplace.

The format of the event is such that it provides an ideal opportunity for the students to test, demonstrate and improve their capabilities to deliver a complex and integrated product in the demanding environment of a motorsport competition.

The FEPS workshop supports the student teams throughout this project with the Compcut 200 being called upon to help the students to produce test samples to a high degree of accuracy in order to select an appropriate material for the bodywork and flooring of their vehicles.

Surrey won both the award for the most efficient car and the highest placed British Electric Vehicle in 2019. Moreover, Team SURTES scored first in the 2020 Virtual Dynamic Event, against all the national and international competitor teams.

Biodegradable tents

The FEPS mechanical workshop has been working closely with Dr Geoffrey Knott a Research Fellow in the Dept of Mechanical Engineering Sciences utilising the Compcut 200’s ability to accurately cut natural composite specimens in support of his EPSRC Impact Acceleration funded project aimed at devising an environmentally-friendly tent – designed to mitigate the ‘end-of-life’ wastage that has become so common in the aftermath of outdoor music festivals.

Dr Knott worked closely with Jack Fairbrother, co-founder of BassCamp, a Surrey start up addressing this plastic waste issue, Dr Andrew Viquerat, senior lecturer in the Centre for Engineering Materials and Structures, and PhD student, Jason Shore to develop a suitable tent fabric. Newly-gained knowledge from the research project is now being used by the Surrey start-up.

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