Cutting Acrylic

Utah-Jay

Utah-Jay

BH Companion
Please school me on the best way to cut acrylic

I initially used an air compressor powered jigsaw, but it was melting the edges a bit, …… then I tried the scoring method which was an epic FAIL.

Please HELP
 
I scored it with a drywall knife with the break-away blades. I had a few slips but managed to keep it clean. I used masking tape for protection so I could put the straight edge on the good part. This way, if the blade slipped, it would hit the area that I was cutting off anyway. I clamped the straight edge down so I didn't have to worry about it moving.

Start off slowly so you can get a nice straight line for the blade to follow. It took quite a while to get through. Keep the blades fresh and have plenty on hand. It's tough stuff and it eats the blades up.
 
What Mark said. Way too easy, no breakages. You can do corners too. Then just gently run a file along the edges to tidy it up.
 
Yep. What Mark and Nev said. I use a Harbor Freight 3" pneumatic cutoff tool. Cheap and works great.
Lee
 
I found the die grinder a little too energetic and hard to control when I cut my RV-8 canopy. I'm a Dremel guy. I found a small metal cutting wheel with small teeth and that worked for me
 
I used an angle grinder with a cut-off wheel (3/64" wheel for metal). I have done my rear passenger windows like this and had no issues. I cleaned up the edges with a fine file and a bit of sandpaper.
 
Light&Sweet said:
Sounds like the need is for detail cuts in curves. Long straight cuts are great on a table saw.
Click to expand...

The table saw I have access to is not able to make a 17” wide cut.

I put a new blade in the pneumatic jigsaw and the cutting was much easier and I got the results I needed
 
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