What blade to cut thick acrylic please? (1 Viewer)

kitetraveller

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Getting there!
I have some 12mm thick clear acrylic that I want to use for a shelf, but have no idea what to use to cut it - anyone got any helpful suggestions please?

Many thanks in anticipation.
Andy
 

Glandwr

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How long is the cut if it's manageable manually a hacksaw would do it. The cut edge then tidied up with a very sharp plane then wet n dry used wet.

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TheBig1

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many many years! since I was a kid
either buy the correct blade to suit your jigsaw at slow speed or use a fine tooth blade for metal.
 

Euphony

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Or if there is one, take it to your local laser cutting service, usually metal but can cut acrylics, wood, plastics etc too. Perfect finish and sizing.
 
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kitetraveller

kitetraveller

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Getting there!
Many thanks folks!
I will try a metal cutting blade at slow speed in my jigsaw, and see how I get on.

Cheers
Andy

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pappajohn

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Many thanks folks!
I will try a metal cutting blade at slow speed in my jigsaw, and see how I get on.

Cheers
Andy
if the off cut piece will be reasonably large try a few trial cuts in that before making the final cut.
That will give you chance to change blades and speed if necessary to get the optimum combination.
 
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Once you have cut it, you can use wet and dry (wet) to clean the edges and put a bevel on if you need to. Then use a polishing compound to get it really nice.

as @Glandwr said a bandsaw is best but a metal cutting blade in a jigsaw worked for me fine. Let the blade do the work and don't try to push the blade too fast. You can use water to keep it cool/lubricated as well. It is basically nigh on impossible to avoid small chipping with a jigsaw but you can clean it up with wet and dry as mentioned above.

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Feb 27, 2011
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PS: put masking tape on the top and bottom of the cut prior to cutting to prevent scratching of the surface.
 
Feb 27, 2011
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oh and one last thing. if it is thin. cut from the outside in. ie make two cuts. Cut from one side to the middle, then cut from the other side to the middle.
If you try and do it in one run on thin stuff it may knock a chunk out of the corner as you get to the end of the cut.
 

Enword

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If you have a steady hand & the confidence you can flame polish the edge after cutting, but practice on scrap bits first (y)

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kitetraveller

kitetraveller

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Getting there!
Thanks all!

I tried with a metal cutting blade in my jigsaw, but the acrylic melted, then closed back up behind the cut, so I did not end up with seperate pieces!!

I used a hacksaw to make the cut in the end, then a new hacksaw blade with foam wrapped around it to make a handle so I could cut to the middle of the sheet.

Once I had cut the sheet to a manageable size, I was able to use my table top bandsaw to do the rest.

I looked up flame polish on youtube, and had a go, and it seemed to work.

Thanks again folks.
 

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