Cutting polycarbonate sheet 10mm

[Rob Morley]

Multiple shallow cuts?

[PeterC]

It'd need a shallow pit to start without wandering, then a sharp masonary bit will scrape the material rather than cut it. At work, we had some backed off bits of about 80 - 85 deg. for material that would crack with a standard bit.

As an aside, when I wanted a small scraper, I slowly ground a square file (about 8 - 10mm) with 2 acute angles, 2 obtuse angles and a small chisel tip. The angles are all sharp and the obtuse ones are ideal for hard plastics. It's worth using a good file - not worn out - as then another file isn't needed for a lot of jobs.

[Graeme]

In message , Bill Wright writes

Indeed. I cut quite a lot of the stuff last year, and it takes time, but my method is Stanley knife first, then pencil in the knife groove (easier to see), then cut slowly with a hand saw. Fine toothed tenon saw is good but, as has been said, watch the spine. Finally, a quick up and down with a surform to remove any bits, and any bead as Bill said. Easy to form that bead just with a hand saw. My sheet wasn't 10mm thick, though.

[John Rumm]

Last time I did that I used a jigsaw with a hacksaw blade in it. Ran at a slowish speed.

[Fredxxx]

I missed that, and the very first line in the OP's post!

[newshound]

That's *definitely* a very good idea. Good luck with it.

[Steve Sims]

One option in the future could be to buy cut to size 10mm polycarbonate sheets. I bought some 4mm and 10mm from this website -