Cutting Acrylic

Dundhoone

Folks

I have a very tasty looking piece of 5mm red acrylic which I would like to cut and put bits into my case. On reading up on cutting acrylic I have gotten fairly mixed ideas/results.
I may have access to a band saw, I figure I'll just score out my design onto the sheet and give it a go. Tricky bit is , i'd like to cut a curve.

Just wondering if anyone has experience cutting acyrilic, what they used and how it turned out.

Loobz

Use a Dremel - should be easiest.

astec123

The best way to cut Perspex (acrylic) is to use a sharp stanley knife and a steady hand, just keep scoring the line till it breaks off, dont force it to break just a gentle warp should snap it off otherwise it is not cut enough. This is how I did my case up and it took about 15 mins to do. It is a square opening with beveled edges.

Dundhoone

hmm, I've read that dremels can melt the edges of the acyrlic. The scoring does seem like the simplest solution alright, once I get going! Ac ryan have some nice uv sensitive acyril panels, might get me some depending on the success with this bit.

kdouglas

dremel will most likely melt the acrylic, and will probably take quite a while to cut, snapping works grand for straight edges, but if you want a curve you'll have to use a scroll saw or jigsaw with a fine blade, if you find the acrylic heating up alot when cutting, grab a can of wd-40 and spray it onto the blade/acrylic while cutting. either way if you want a nice curve youll have to file it after cutting, start with a rough file, then smoother, then some course emery paper and move onto some finer stuff

dubdvd

kdouglas wrote:

dremel will most likely melt the acrylic, and will probably take quite a while to cut, snapping works grand for straight edges, but if you want a curve you'll have to use a scroll saw or jigsaw with a fine blade, if you find the acrylic heating up alot when cutting, grab a can of wd-40 and spray it onto the blade/acrylic while cutting. either way if you want a nice curve youll have to file it after cutting, start with a rough file, then smoother, then some course emery paper and move onto some finer stuff

i've been doing a lot of cutting lately and at frist i did find the when using the dermel it did melt the edges but then i found if you lower down the rpm of the dremel blade it was'nt as bad but even better was use the dermel at slow speed to mark and slightly cut into it and then use a straight edged peice of wood under the perspex and snap off ...also if its a long straight line then or even a curved line or cut out then the best way is to use some old sheets of wood and sandwich the perspex in between the two sheets of wood and clamp them well and by using the likes of a black and decker work bench or any kind of stands that have space in the middle so the jigsaw blade is clear and does'nt hit anything ...Once you use a jigsaw blade with tight teeth ,you should be ok ..work fine for me and if the edges are abit rough just use the dermel with a sanding or file attachment to smooth them over

po0k

When finishing the plexi, do you use emery paper or a solvent of some kind to get rid of the cloudiness along the edge of the cut?

Dundhoone

right im off to the hardware shop to buy some sort of dremel
I broke the top off my stanley blade trying to score the acrylic and in about two hours i've made very little progress. Time for powertools!

Nukem

Recommend a set of mini files as well. They are well handy and give a great finish to the edges. There's a special hacksaw bit for cutting shapes in metals/plastics as well (name escapes me,il find it later) its a round cutting tool with groves on it and enables you to cut in any direction.

Think you can actually get a blade similar for a bandsaws,like a wood band saw but as said has grooves on it so it doenst melt the plastic as it cuts.

Nukem

Explosive_Cornflake

I want to get a dremel also, anywhere have good deals on with them, or a good set with lots of bits in it?

dubdvd

Explosive_Cornflake wrote:

I want to get a dremel also, anywhere have good deals on with them, or a good set with lots of bits in it?

B&Q and the likes sell the real Dremels but be aware they dont come cheap ...we are talking at least 100 euro for that basic model and a good bit above for the likes of the cordless one .."which WiZzard the lucky so and so has " and then theres the price of the cut off wheel blades for a pack of 5 it will cost you near the 30 euro mark for the dremel brand , and i remember going through about that many cutting out a 120mm blow hole in my old wavemaster case ...so watch out ..but in saying that they are the best ...and you kinda pay for what you get ..

WizZard bought a multitool from argos and within a week he had been given 3 replacements ...so be careful which ones you pick up if you cant afford the real dremel ..the one i'd tell people to stir cleer of is the the yellow ones they sell in maplin the ..they could'nt cut a fresh cream cake ..and the power cable is pluged into the base of it and keeps coming losse ..

i got one a while ago in homebase it was only about 20 to 30 euro and im still using it without any problems its speed goes up close to the 10,000 RPM and you get the extension addon with it and the pull out vice stand with it and on the highest speed level which is No6 ...its fast and strong black and decker sell and pack of 50 disc blades which is a little less in price than the 5 bigger blades than dremel do ..and in real time cutting the B&D's lasted a lot longer ...most of the type's of multitool's that i bought for cheap are all made by the one company but are sold of to others to put there own brand name stickers on them for the money you pay you get a good return ..

but as i said if you want the best than remorage your mountain bike and get a dremel and also get a Dremel Diamond Wheel Which i have but have not used yet , im waiting for something very important before i put it to use ..i wont waste it on plexy ...
Any how thats my WAFFLE finished for tonight

Explosive_Cornflake

Hmm, was thinking in my head, no way would i get a cordless, but for a fiver more? Says it's the same power, anyway i was thinking off getting this?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00067AZV6/qid=1122996582/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_2_1/026-2975062-8858031
Anything wrong with it?

WizZard

Explosive_Cornflake wrote:

Hmm, was thinking in my head, no way would i get a cordless, but for a fiver more? Says it's the same power, anyway i was thinking off getting this?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00067AZV6/qid=1122996582/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_2_1/026-2975062-8858031
Anything wrong with it?

No. I have it. It's very good. The only thing is it doesn't come with a flex shaft, which is a must if you are doing any fine/close work. eg. engraving

Nukem

Use a jigsaw with a fine long cutting piece. It will cut it really easy. Just make sue you have a long blade as if its short and you push to hard the jigsaw will jump and damage the piece. Double up on perspex when cutting so only the top bit gets damaged


Nukem

Explosive_Cornflake

I think i'll go wiht he corded. Don't like the idea of batteries dying on me in a few years.
Thinking of going for the first one on this page
cuz it has the flex cord thingy ma bob.