• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

How do you cut acryllic..

1

133

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Feb 14, 2004
Messages
1,607
How do you cut acryllic without it melting all over the bit your using ?

about a year ago i did a 92mm fan mod on my window and there was melted plastic all over my dremel bits

is there an easy way to do this besides a hole saw ?

sry if its a noob question but i havn't been on the mod scene for months and may have missed some things
 
I believe you scribe it like glass over and over, then put it on the edge and hit it so it snaps where you scribed a good hard 5 times or so.
 
You can use a holesaw, but you absolutely have to go slowly. If it begins to melt, then you're going too fast.
 
Hinokagutsuchi said:
You can use a holesaw, but you absolutely have to go slowly. If it begins to melt, then you're going too fast.
Click to expand...


Precisely, then use a small heating element to shine up the edges.
 
Band saw
Jig saw


Sand down the edges with 100grit followed by 220, and 400 then polish.
 
Use drill bits and blades made for acryllic. I know a lot of people think high speeds are always good, but they aren't.

Also, I know lowes will cut acrylic that you buy there for free with a laser. I'm not sure if they can do circles or what, I still have not got it done there yet.

Use blades with the highets teeth per inch count you can find.
 
Cover both sides to be cut with tape (though quality plexi usually already has this), and then use a blade with as many teeth as possible. Oh, and go slow ;)
 
Ditto on the tape part and all I've ever used is a jigsaw with a metal cutting bit (very fine teeth). Just make sure to take your time and keep the plexi from vibrating up and down on long pieces as it will cause it to crack/break. I only use the Dremel to smooth up edges using the sanding bit.
 
At thinner acrylic, using a Jigsaw will make the plastic melt while you are attempting to cut it. If it is a long piece, make sure you try to find a way to prevent it from vibrating, clamp it down or use a table of the proper height to hold up the other end.

Some types of Acrylic are made to cut by jigsaw and some should be cut by a bandsaw. For Example: This blue streaked acrylic sheet in my basement couldn't be cut using a jigsaw because it would melt, so I used a bandsaw.
PICT0003.jpg
 
I've also heard that sandwiching the plexi between two pieces of plywood might help cut back on the vibrations.

As for smoothing the edges, you can use a small torch and quickly(and I mean quickly) move it over the edges to clear them. You have to be absolutely quick or you'll burn the plexi.
 
We used to cut plexi all the time on a table saw, with a very sharp very small toothed saw blade. I seem to recall it was a diamond tipped blade made just for cutting plexi but I could be wrong.

QM
 
you can also trying cutting it with the acrylic submerged in water. I did that to drill holes for a shroud on my heatercore.
 
Actually, acrylic doesn't cut, it chips. A $12 80-tooth table saw blade is fine for straight cuts. For $100-200 you can get a special plastic blade that will leave a nicer finish on the edge. A band-saw with a special blade is fine too. Scroll saws are very problematic. Jigsaws are fine but use a blade made for plastic or metal. Speed is everything.

Cutting holes can be done with hole saws, but get a very good quality one and use a drill-press. In fact always use a drill-press for acrylic, slow speed and slow feed. To cut large holes I scribe them first, then rough cut inside the line with a jigsaw, then finish the cut to the scribed lies with a 60 grit drill drum sander, then finish by hand.

Flame finishing is an acquired talent and gives the piece an "Icy" quality. I prefer to finish edges with 1000 grit wet sand paper as this leaves an edge that "lights up".

Dremmels are fine for finish work on acrylic, but not much else.

Also, keep things cool. Cool room, cool plastic, cool blades. What may start off as a good cut can turn into a melted mess as the blade/drill/sandpaper heats up. I dip the jigsaw blade in a can of water every couple of inches. Drills too. I oil my blades on my table, band, and scroll saws with Vaseline.

Good Luck.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top