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How to cut acrylic?

G

Gorilla

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Sep 14, 2007
Messages
8,573
So, I've googled but everyone seems to have a different answer. I have a 12"x24" sheet of acrylic (it's something like .17" thick) that I want to cut into 6 6"x8" pieces and then engrave them. I have these tools available in the shop: table saw, circular saw, band saw, jig saw, scroll saw, miter saw, hack saw, pneumatic saw, router, and a dremel tool.

I'm asking here because when I googled it I found a number of sources that said to use a dremel tool to cut acrylic, but I know from personal experience that this melts the hell out of acrylic. There are also a lot of sites that give completely opposite advice.

I need to make straight cuts, not curves, and I want to avoid chipping the edge or melting it as I cut.

Thoughts?
 
you can get a NICE blade for the mitre/table/circular saw but it will get some light chipping, the jig saw Ive read that laminate blades work well

honestly a nice blade for the hacksaw might be the easiest

you can also score and snap like you do with glass
 
Two ways I've personally have done to cut acrylic. If you use the dremel, you are right in that it will melt. You than need to file it down and use a scrapper to make it look nice again. The other option is to score and snap the acyrlic, but if you do it sloppily (pull too fast), you may miss the mark and slice into the acrylic which won't look pertty. Also, if it's too thick and you can't do it in 3-4 passes, it'll dug an uneven groove into the snap point. I've been not too happy with both, and my honest advise to you is if you need this to look professionally nice, have it laser cut.
 
I just do scoring and snapping. You can't do that with the thicker acrylic. I think I don't use anything over .108" thickness, or else it's just way too much hassle. The thickness of your acrylic sounds too thick for clean score/snap. In that case I'd probably use a hacksaw with a fresh blade.

Of course, if you need a professional appearance, get it professionally done like said above ;)
 
Well, I ended up just using a table saw with whatever blade was on it. I actually only need a single 6"x8" piece, so I figured that I would have plenty left over if I screwed up. I taped it up thoroughly with masking tape before cutting. I expected the results to be terrible, but surprisingly it worked perfectly. I can't tell the sides that I cut from the sides that were factory cut.

So now it's time to practice my etching skills.
 
Always used a jigsaw and lots of masking tape for acrylic over 5mm thick. Light pressure, full speed :)

Anyhing thinner, use the score and snap.
 
yep, jigsaw with a metal fast cut blade, just cut 9mm acrylic for a dance dance revolution pad that way, worked like a charm.
 
i've always sandwiched acrylic between two pieces of wood and used a router
 
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