Patent ID: 7326312

Claim:
A method of using a tape laying head for removing scrap from tape and laying the scrap in a scrap area wherein the tape laying head comprises a compaction shoe and a compaction roller for pressing the tape onto a form, wherein the tape comprises fiber tape carried on backing paper and the fiber tape comprises fiber bundles embedded in a resin matrix and wherein the tape normally passes through the tape laying head from a feed reel to a take-up reel, the method comprising the steps of: 1) advancing the tape laying head from upstream to downstream in a scrap area while advancing the tape from the feed reel to the take-up reel to deposit the tape in the scrap area; 2) reversing the tape laying head so that it advances from downstream to upstream in the scrap area while reversing the direction of tape motion through the head from the take-up reel to the feed reel while pressing the fiber tape onto the scrap area; and, 3) applying a butt cut to the scrap to be deposited in the scrap area, the butt cut severing the fiber bundles and the resin matrix but not the paper backing, and the butt cut serving to terminate the propagation of any tears along the longitudinal axis of the scrap that may occur in the fiber tape during step 1 above and serving as a starting point for scrap removal, wherein a portion of the scrap to be removed from the tape is downstream of a non-full width course of tape that is not scrap and is to be laid on the form, and wherein a downstream edge of the non-full width course is formed by a trailing cut.