Cutting Plexiglass

Cutting plexiglass can be difficult? You may be helping your child in finishing his 4H project and may be having a very bad time while doing it, especially, if it involves cutting plexiglass in panels of proper size. If you don't know how to cut plexiglass, you may be wasting your valuable time and most importantly, the material. On the other hand, you may be undertaking the task of cutting plexiglass, in order to replace the glass panels in your greenhouse or to replace the broken glass in the picture frame.

What is Plexiglass Made of?
Plexiglass is a type of synthetic polymer which is referred to as acrylic or perspex. It is a form of methyl methacrylate or polymethyl methacrylate. Plexiglass is produced with the help of methods such as emulsion polymerization and solution polymerization. For producing it in commercial quantities, bulk polymerization is used. One of the raw materials used to produce plexiglass is petroleum. In the Second World War, it was used in the windows and canopy of the planes, so as to give the pilot of the plane a better view during flying. Plexiglass is used as a building material and in making a variety of crafts projects. It is preferred over glass, as it is light in weight, transparent and inexpensive. It is scratch-able and that is why it's sheets are glued on with the protective covering. It is used as safety glass and can be shaped by heating. You can also buy it in various colors and tints to suit your purpose.

How to Cut Plexiglass?
Why is it difficult to work with plexiglass? This material has the tendency of chipping at the edges, during the process of cutting plexiglass, which results in unsatisfactory results. Plexiglass or acrylic is sensitive to heat and melts because of the heat of friction, which is a characteristic of the cutting process. This may present difficulty while cutting plexiglass sheets that are thin. The melted material form a blob and resists the smooth progress of the cutting blade which may contribute to its chipping.

An important point to note, as already mentioned is that it gets easily scratched. So it is advisable to retain the protective covering on it, until you are done with the cutting. Your task of cutting plexiglass depends on the thickness of the plexiglass, the type of cuts you need to execute in the process. The brittle nature of the plexiglass can really give you a tough time, if you don't know how to cut plexiglass. Your choice of plexiglass cutting tools may depend on the thickness of the plexiglass sheet, you intend to cut. To cut a thin sheet of plexiglass, choose a blade which has plenty of teeth. If you find that the edges are getting chipped during cutting, be sure to change the saw blade to a fine toothed blade that has more number of teeth. Cutting plexiglass with a table saw fitted with such a blade will help you achieve desired results. If everything else fails, you may like to use plywood blades that have several hundred tiny teeth. During the cutting operation, wear hand gloves and goggles to protect your hands and eyes, respectively. Acrylic is not safe to breathe in, so wear a mask to prevent its fine particles from entering your lungs.

Cutting Plexiglass with Dremel
If you are planning to cut plexiglass with dremel, then you may benefit from using #561 bit. It is a multipurpose cutting bit which many people use to cut variety of materials. It is a high speed rotary cutting tool. It is economical to use and it gives good quality finishing and cutting. Use a marker or pencil to make the shape you want, to cut out of the plexiglass sheet. Insert the #561 bit in dremel and set it on 6 or 8. It is recommended that to expose the blade to the plexiglass sheet, as much as possible. You can do so, maintaining an angle of 45 degree between the blade and the plexiglass. You may like to use a constant stream cold water on the blade to smoothen the process of cutting plexiglass. The water stream will cool the edge of the plexiglass under cutting and will also wash away the debris during the cutting process. To make straight and long cuts fix the plexiglass sheet to the work-table using clamps. Use a fine grade sandpaper to smoothen the edges.

Cutting Plexiglass with Jigsaw
Cutting plexiglass with a jigsaw is also possible. To get the best results by using a jigsaw, you will have to use a metal cutting blade. As the plexiglass is a brittle material it goes without saying that this blade must have fine tooth. Mark you design on the plexiglass sheet and snap the jigsaws base insert into its place. This rubbery thing will support the plexiglass sheet during the cutting process. If the shape to be cut out of the plexiglass has straight sections in it, use clamps-on guides to achieve a quality job.

You can also finish the task of cutting plexiglass with a router. An alternative way available to you is to simply drop the idea of cutting plexiglass and use custom cut plexiglass. If hope the above information on how to cut plexiglass is satisfactory.