Cutting polycarbonate sheet

[David WE Roberts]

I'm sure I've seen something about this recently but can't find it.

Fine toothed saw?

Plasma cutter?

[Frank Erskine]

Angle grinder.

[george [dicegeorge]]

im not an expert but I'd use a hacksaw with a brand new blade, maybe scoring it first with a stanley knife and metal edge

or a fine tooth woodsaw after scoring...

Brand new blades.

[g]

[george [dicegeorge]]

[The Medway Handyman]

Funny how things spring into your head innit?

That reminded me of a phone call from years back. It was from a mates wife, asking if he could pop around & borrow my 'ankle' grinder :-)

[Tim Watts]

george [dicegeorge] wibbled on Saturday 10 April 2010 16:17

Is that like swmbo PMT?

[mick]

How thick? We've used all sorts, from a sheet metal guillotine (up to about 6mm) to a variable speed jigsaw with a coarse metal cutting blade at minimum speed (for 10mm and 12mm).

Thinner stuff (3-6mm) seems best with a fine tooth panel saw.

You don't want the stuff to melt and stick to the blade, so power tools have to be handled with care.

Leave the plastic protective sheet on until you've finished all the cutting. It helps.

[A.Lee]

Just a fine toothed wood saw.I did a piece last week at an angle to the internal ridges, and it was fine. I tried a sharp blade before, but the blade tends to follow the ridges, so is difficult to cut straight. Alan.

[Halmyre]

It wasn't Kathy Bates trying a new way to keep James Caan in line was it?

-- Halmyre

[Andy Dingley]

Good jigsaw. Low vibration, moderate pendulum action, fine wood blade.

[John Rumm]

Yup, but less cutting!

[John Rumm]

I usually use a fine blade (i.e. coarse hacksaw blade) in a decent jigsaw at a low speed.

[newshound]

For the thinner stuff, and straight cuts, I score first with a stanley knife and then follow it up with multiple scores with one corner of the cutting edge of a small (1/4 inch or so) wood chisel, to cut a 90 degree V groove. That's holding the chisel a bit like a knife and dragging it backwards of course. Once you've gone about 1/3 through it should snap OK. Lay the cut along the edge of a table or workbench and snap by pushing down. For a long cut, scribe a bit deeper and clamp up the "wanted" bit between suitable boards or battens. Not for long, narrow pieces of course.

[Appin]

The message

from Andy Dingley contains these words:

That's it to a tee. I've cut miles of the stuff. And that specification of GOOD jigswaw needs to be emphasised. There's a VAST difference between a good one and a bad one on this sort of job.

[David WE Roberts]

All sorted with a reasonable quality tenon saw.

Thanks for the advice to one and all.