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How to cut acrylic?
Akilae729
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So I've ordered some 1/16" thick 4' X 8' panels of acrylic mirror that I'm going to have to cut into some pretty intricate shapes. (Pie sections, curves, etc).
Is there an easy way to do this?
Previous methods we've used in my lab usually end up with 2 pieces of cracked and ruined acrylic before we get anything useful.
Past methods include.....
1) Scoring with a razor blade for hours
2) Clamping between two two by fours and using a jigsaw
3) Ill fated attempt at using nippers
4) Laser Cutter. However, it means I would have to source smaller sections of acrylic
Is there an easy way to do this?
Previous methods we've used in my lab usually end up with 2 pieces of cracked and ruined acrylic before we get anything useful.
Past methods include.....
1) Scoring with a razor blade for hours
2) Clamping between two two by fours and using a jigsaw
3) Ill fated attempt at using nippers
4) Laser Cutter. However, it means I would have to source smaller sections of acrylic
Akilae729 on
0
Posts
The scoring method can work, but not for intricate shapes obviously. As the previous poster indicated you can also by special blades meant to cut the stuff. I've also found companies such as this this one who use a laser to cut the stuff, and are decently enough priced, as well as stock the material on hand (I think). You can also buy acrylic in liquid form and use molds to make your shapes, though I've heard the cast acrylic doesn't look quite as nice as the commercial grade stuff you can buy.
As of now they are going to be "pie" sections of a parabolic dish that is 6 ft across. So whatever method I use either has to be able to handle big pieces or I have to lay up a bunch of little sections.
Either pie sections or tons of really thin strips.
I'll check out the acrylic saw blades
It's also possible to cut acrylic with a router (again, at low speed), if you aren't concerned about the thickness of the cut.
Yeah, for anything you can't score I'd go with a coping saw, that's how I put in a cat door on sheet of acrylic in place of a small window. Scored it to size and used the coping saw to cut out the cat-door shaped section. I tried using a circular saw in place of scoring for the large cuts and it ended very poorly.
twitch.tv/tehsloth
Otherwise, you're cleanest cuts probably come from the solid state lasers right?
I might end up just using the laser cutters that I have available in our fab lab and do a bunch of tiny mirror sections. The sections have to bend on multiple axis so smaller might be better.