cutting plastic bath side panel to size

Mar 20, 2009 21 Replies

its from a b & q bathroom suite and is curved. i need to cut off about



2-3cm from one end (which is hidden behind the sink) and a small cutout the other end where radiator pipes are. any tips on cutting the flimsy plastic panel? best to use a hacksaw blade or sheet metal scissors or something else? any tips appreciated!

Hacksaw blade worked for me.

Measure twice, check, recheck, cut.

No swearing that way ;-)

Think I ended up using a fine-toothed junior hacksaw. I held a plank of wood lengthwise underneath it, moving it a long the cut as I progressed, to stop the panel flapping about. Horrible job - those things just aren't intended to be cut.

I started off trying a Stanley knife. MUCH swearing that way...

David

Agreed, a right PITA. I use a fine toothed handsaw held at a low angle, with a support. Tried avaition snips, tuffcuts, jigsaw etc.

And much possibility of severed fingers.

Hence the swearing (didn't quite sever it though :-O !)

Oh you too eh? Cutting a hole in plaster board in my case. How many stitches did you need? I got 10 for the index finger and four for ring finger. Top of the index finger is still numb, I cut it 9 years ago...

I once had to cut some notches in one for some pipes - and cut the wrong end!

The panels are awful - they all bulge into the room taking up space and get broken by mothers bathing their children. I replaced ours with a wooden one.

As others have said, I used a normal hacksaw. Glue the off-cut piece back onto inside of the panel (if space permits) to give it some rigidity

Time to buy a Dremel. Mine is in my "top 5 most useful tools"

Joking asde, I used a small one, AKA a Dremil when I did mine!

Produced a nice neat cut...

Toby...

I used a fine toothed tenon saw to cut one end off a panel. It worked fine. However, one thing to note is that, without its end, the panel become much more floppy. I had to add some wooden stiffening battens inside to stop is slumping.

Robert

Same here. Sheet of 6mm mdf cut to size and painted to seal it. Gives about 6 inches more space in what is a very small bathroom

About the only thing a Dremel will cut, useless objects.

Mines in a box in the corner of the garage. Next time I have a sort out it will prolly go in the bin.

Reasonably fine-toothed wood saw.

And, as others have said, find a way of stiffening the panel both while you cut it and as reinforcement later

did it no problem with a junior hacksaw blade problem now that cut end is wobbly.. what sorta glue should i use to glue the removed bit behind the cut edge to strengthen it? normal grab adhesive says on side must be porous. thanx 4 all the replies

Replace with alternative panel! (or use polystyrene cement)

i have used clear siliCONE sealant as the instructions said 'can be used as an adhesive for bath /shower trim', it seems to have worked!

finished it, very annoying job, panel so flimsy. cut panel to the right size, then found it wasnt high enough (because bath was raised a little with wood supports. got an L shape plastic trim from b n q to cover the gap at the bottom. had to make recesses bigger in 3 pieces of wood drilled to floor tiles to raise the bath panel. screwed panel to 3 bits of wood, fitted L shape trim, held down by the wood after loosening screws to let the trim under the wood then securing back down. then used double sided foam tape (originally bought for the L- shape trim, to attach the top of the panel to the wood strip that runs along the top edge, because it was so flimsy it wouldnt stay up where it should.

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