What's the best way to cut this stuff?
Plastic window and Lexan
May 31, 2009
12 Replies
Tablesaw or scoring blade in a utility knife and snap it. Check out youtube when you have these sort of questions. The videos improve the learning curve. Instructables.com also has some good stuff.
RI've had the best luck using a good jigsaw with a sharp and fairly aggressive wood cutting blade at moderate speed. I haven't done anything where I really need the edge to be perfect, but clamping on a guide gets me a good straight line.
I use my bandsaw
I had a guy at a plastics supplier show me how to get that smooth, clear edge you see on fabricated plastic items. He used a propane torch to gently heat the edge without burning the plastic after sanding it. I learned to do it on some scrap plastic before I tackled a real project.
TDD
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Table router works great!
skottc
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skottc had written this in response to
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Table router works great!
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I've had pretty good luck with a RotoZip.
I tried a table saw and chunks of plastic fly all over the place.
Well, since I can't tell what you did, I don't know what went wrong. They make dedicated plastic blades, but most carbide blades with not too many teeth will work. Did you remove the paper? You can also turn the blade around and run it backwards - not anti-kickback blades, though.
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R
I've always used a table saw with a really sharp blade for cutting Plexiglas and Lexan. The blade should not protrude very far above the table or some splintering may occur. For perfect edges for solvent gluing a 12 " sanding disc with 3M 220 grit works well, low speeds, of course.
Joe
Hi there! What do you plan to use it for?
I ask because my original 'sunroom' was done with such for the windows. It was horribly hot in summer and totally unacceptably cold in winter. It also had major condensation issues which eventually lead to the room rotting out.
Before we had it fixed up to a more proper construction, we couldnt use it 4 months in winter, and 4 months of summer we had to run a window AC 24/7 (even that couldn't keep up so we tended to close it off at least 2 months of the summertime here). ie; we got 6 months use of the room per year Norfolk VA area.
It would however be a fine material for a reasonably usable greenhouse.
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