Composite material lay-up equipment

Composite material lay-up equipment for applying a plurality of individual lengths of elongate fibre reinforcement material to an article, the equipment comprising:

• a support head;
• a cutting mechanism carried by the support head for severing a plurality of individual lengths of elongate fibre reinforcement material, the cutting mechanism comprising:
• a cassette removably attached to the support head;
• a plurality of cutting elements separate from the cassette and coupled to and moveable with respect to the support head;
• and
• a plurality of corresponding counteracting elements statically mounted to the cassette;
• wherein each cutting element is displaceable relative to the corresponding counteracting element to perform a cutting stroke in which the respective cutting and counteracting elements cooperate to sever a length of elongate fibre reinforcement material extending through a nip formed between them, and
• wherein the cassette is removably attachable to the support head such that removing the cassette permits separation of the counteracting elements from the cutting elements.