How to cut fiberglass safely

I think that you will be surprised at how little dust is created when you cut fiberglass with a jig saw or sawzall. I recently trimmed the edges of 3 fiberglass water troughs. About 30 linear feet. 1/8" to 1/4" thick. I used a 24 teeth per inch sawzall blade. I swept up the dust and it didn't come close to filling the dust pan.

Mixing water and electricity is a recipe for disaster.
 
I just finished up an enclosure for my Tormach using 0.090" thick fiberglass reinforced panels. I cut it on the table saw with a 50-tooth carbide blade. I had a zero-clearance blade insert on the saw which was key. I started with the normal insert and had quite a bit of chatter during the cut. Had absolutely no problems with the zero-clearance plate.

I cut some holes for windows in the panels after the fact. Used a saber saw with a 32-tooth blade for that. Clamped a board on both sides next to the cut to keep the panel from flopping.

Bruce
 
I have used a diamond blade on my worm drive saw (7 1/4") for cutting concrete, and set up a hose with a flow control valve attached to the saw to run water on the blade ( minimal amount of water required), resulting in zero dust. I imagine it would work equally well on fiberglass. Mike
 
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