Cutting acrylic mirror material - update ...

[Arfa Daily]

So, my A5 sized piece arrived, and I marked up the oddball shape that I needed for the first piece. On the basis of 'nothing ventured, nothing gained' and that I had more material than I needed, I attacked it with the electric fretsaw. To my amazement, it went through it like a hot knife through butter. I kept it fairly slow - probably about 1 mm per second, and although you could smell the cut, there was absolutely no blade clogging or melting of the swarf at all. Nice finish on the edge. When I cut the next piece, I might even put a new blade in, if I can find them ... :-)

Arfa

[Dave Plowman (News)]

It's extremely easy and nice stuff to work with. As you've said just keep tool speeds slow to avoid melting it.

[Andy Dingley]

I laser cut this stuff. I get through 8x4 sheets of it. Cuts pretty nicely. I also have to rip the sheets down beforehand

If you're jigsawing, it tends to hot-melt itself back together again after sawing and the sheets are also brittle.

• Well-balanced low-vibration jigsaw (Bosch blue barrel body)

• Sharp blades to reduce heat generation

• Moderate pendulum action to clear swarf and avoid re-welding

• Good support beneath to avoid cracking