Finding a recommended saw blade for cutting Plexiglass is proving more difficult than I thought. I’m trying to cut from 1/8 to 5/8 thickness pieces of Plexiglass accurately. Any one out there have experience with something that works?
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Replies
A band saw is better than a table saw, if that's what you are trying.
Polycarbonate has 30 times the impact strength of acrylic. It cuts without checking and won't crack in use. If you budget allows, its worth considering.
Thanks. I do not think that I can make a straight enough cut for this use on a band saw. I need a 10" blade that will cut a clean accurate right angle. Probably needs to be similar to that used for fine veneer. Polycarbonate won't work for what I'm building.
Some people "snap" acrylic with a glass cutter or other means of scoring the material, but that edge is too rough for me also. I suppose I can sand the edge, but I need really accurate right angles.
mrinavy ,
No matter which blade or saw for that matter you will not get a perfectly smooth and shiney cut on plexiglass . I have always used a standard 50 tooth Freud combo blade , and have never had a problem .
good luck
Edited 1/8/2005 10:46 pm ET by dusty
Dusty:
Shiny is not the problem. Are the cuts accurate straight and square?
YES , accurate ,straight and square. What will the plexi be used for that you are cuttting ?
thanks much. I have an 80 tooth teflon coated Freud blade that I will try.
Try the Ez Way. and with a freud diablo 40 teeth $14.95 at the Borg.
There are blades made for specifically cutting plexi .However I use a 10 inch, 60 tooth, triple chip in a tablesaw .The feed rate is also critical ,too slow and it melts
I have cut Plexi and Lexan up to 3/4" with my Forrest Woodworker II. As long as the blade is sharp, the blade height is correct and the feed rate isn't excessive, it works fine. Slowing the feed rate didn't change anything since the material was already gone and on my saw, the material doesn't hit the blade once it's been cut. All I had was fine, smooth saw marks with no additional contact on the backside of the blade. I then used fine sandpaper to smooth it more and polished the edge to a high gloss. If the blade is sharp, it'll cut plastic with no problem. The thinner material is actually harder to cut cleanly unless there's a way to keep it in contact with the table top.
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
Thank you. My guess, not having tried it yet, is that you are correct about the thinner material. I appreciate the help.
Thank you. Do you know who makes the special plexiglas blades?
Most blade manufacturers make blades for plastics but any decent blade will work if it's true, the hook angle is low and the tablesaw is set up properly.
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
F.S. tool make a negative hook, double tri-chip with 80 teeththough I use a single tri chip with 60 teeth probably with a slight rougher cut.I generally am only cutting to go in a frame not for solvent welding.
Have you tried asking about hook angle at Rockler or other chain stores, or is it just here in Milw that their people know nothing about it? I asked about hook angle when I needed a dado set and the guy had no friggin' idea what I was asking about. I told hime what I was going to be cutting and it still didn't help.
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
I only go to big box stores to purchase very specific items that I cannot get from trade suppliers at a reasonably close price.If my suppliers charge a little more then my customers pay a bit more.Most of the time it isn't worth my time going in the door.As far as advice, ignore it.With low prices comes low price help who are just programmed to spout the company line at the morning circle jerk
It was a guy at Rockler. From my experience, neither Rockler nor Woodcraft have been helpful whenever I have asked a question. Actually, one at Woodcraft was really good and he left. They don't return calls, lose order info, give out wrong info, etc. When I go to a big box, I don't even bother asking which aisle things are in. The closest HD was good when they first opened, then the wheels fell off and they became just like the rest of the non old-time hardware stores. There are a couple of places in town that are still extremely good at stocking the odd parts that nobody else wants to touch and knowing about old ways of doing things, where I'm a third generation customer.
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
I asked for pump washers at a Borg once. Boy, did I get a funny look.
But seriously, I thought some where you could take a torch to flame polish the cut edges of plastic stuff like that.
You know you have been into woodworking too long when you look at store fixtures made out of plexi and wonder if they have any broken pieces big enough to make a router table out of.
I'm a engineer who designs machinery for manufacturing. We sub out most machine building to machine shops. Plastics fabrication (for chemical processing or safety guards) is usually subbed out to a specialty fabricator who has skill in working with plastics. They use router bits for smoothing edges, and they work fine. Won't produce a polish, but they do produce a smooth, professional looking finish.
Much of their work now is done on CNC machines. If I need a guard or something, I can email them a drawing, and they can convert the drawing into CNC code and whip it out without any layout or measuring and get nearly any shape I can draw. This helps with inside corners, where maching a radius helps considerably in reducing cracking.
A good carbide tip blade will work fine. I've cut 1/2" Tuffak on my table saw without issue. I seem to remember that it cut like maple. I used a freud 60 tooth blade. To learn more about Tuffak check this out (http://www.bayplastics.co.uk/Product%20Materials/prod-Tuffak-Intro.htm)
Good luck,
Mark
I believe it is a negative rake blade, but cannot remember if it's ATB or triple chip. Methinks the latter, as the chipper wouldn't deliver as much impact to the edges of the cut.
Scoring with a carbide scoring knife can work ok with thin materials, but it takes a lot of scoring....and there is always that uncertainty if the break is gonna stay on the scribed line or go off on a line of it's own. I don't thinks I'd be scoring and snapping a 4x8 sheet of the stuff if I had a TS nearby.
Zero clearance insert would be a good idea on the TS.
Cleaning edges, well if yer block plane is keen, and set thin, it will actually plane the stuff.
And yer good ol cabinet scraper will give you a good surface too, smooth enuf that you can "flame" it with the propane torch for that crystal clear edge look,
Work of warning.....plexiglass burns, and when it does it burns hot and fast. So be careful with the flaming eh- remove paper backing at least well away from the torch? and for god's sakes don't throw the plexi scraps or shavings into the woodstove (ask me how I know!)
While the "boys in the back" of yer local Plastics wholesaler will be able to confirm the saw blade specs, the planing and scraping are from my own experiments.
If yer gluing the stuff, you are gonna likely have to be talking to them about obtaining glues anyway.
Eric
in Cowtown.
Freud makes a blade specifically for plexi. LU94 is there number. If i remember right,
its a negative3 degree triple chip. Been using it for years, been sharpened bout 5 times, and fiinally ordered a new one . Its treated me well, costs about 80 bucks or so. Good luck.
e
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