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Manufacturing near net shaped preforms from fiber reinforced thermoplastics (FRTP) allows the production of highly loadable composite components economically. A modified chopper gun is used to chop the thermoplastic hybrid rovings that consist of polypropylene and glass filaments. The chopper gun combines high chopping rates with flexible use. Hot air to melt the thermoplastic matrix and applied vacuum over the preform screen help to fix the fibers on a tooling system. The process control has to meet the requirements concerning the fixation of the fibers on the mold. The chopper gun produces up to 5 kg cut hybrid rovings per minute that have to be fixed. To be able to demould the preform and get a manageable material to move it to the following consolidation processes (pressing, diaphragm forming or vacuum bagging) the thermoplastic fibers are molten locally by hot air. The preform becomes stable after cooling down below the melting temperature of the matrix material.