Cut Holes In Acrylic Sheet

To guard against cracking place the acrylic on a flat sheet of glass in a shop oven not the one in your kitchen at about 180ºf 82ºc for about 1 hour per mm thickness then let them air cool.

Cut holes in acrylic sheet.

Thicknesses of acrylic and perspex vary from 1 5mm to over 25mm. Acrylic sheets can be machined with most shop tools. Valued for being shatter resistant plexiglass is used on construction. Follow these instructions to cut a circle in a sheet of plexiglass.

How to drill plexiglass. Standard metal drill bits will work but without extensive modification the metal drill bit will crack and chip the brittle acrylic sheet. How to cut acrylic by hand. All you need is a thin acrylic sheet a straight edge that is longer than your cut clamps and a scoring knife.

Brand names include lucite vitroflex perspex acrylex and many others. Drilling holes in acrylic requires the use of a drill bit specially designed for use with plastics. Plexiglass sometimes called transparent thermoplastic acrylic lucite and perspex is a polymer that is often used as an alternative to glass. Using solvent based glues on laser cut extruded acrylic can cause cracking due to the internal stresses from temperature differences in the acrylic.

Acrylic and perspex can be used in a number of ways from bath and basin splashbacks to in a thicker form shelves. Cutting acrylic is a simple process but whichever method you use you need a saw with fine teeth. It can be molded into almost any shape from its liquid state but it is most often encountered for project use in 1 16 inch to 3 4 inch thick sheets. A brief shop tip on how to drill clean holes in acrylic and other plastics.

How to glue plexiglass sheets when the need arises to stick together pieces of plexiglass sheets there is an array of glue options to choose from. Cutting acrylic by hand is the easiest way to go for a beginner who isn t familiar with power tools. When cutting the acrylic sheet you should try to avoid touching this coating as much as possible to retain the original outlook of the surface.