How To Trim Acrylic Sheet

For best results use another tool like the earlier mentioned table saw to cut your acrylic roughly before getting a more exact finish with the router.

How to trim acrylic sheet.

Routers can be used to cut acrylic for both curved and straight cuts. How to cut acrylic by hand. 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. Then score the line using a plastic scoring blade using the ruler as a guide so your line is straight.

Clamp the plexiglass sheet to the work surface for stability. For a thin sheet of plexiglass that is material up to about 3 16 inch thick use a scoring method not dissimilar from a technique used to cut actual glass. All you need is a thin acrylic sheet a straight edge that is longer than your cut clamps and a scoring knife. Lay the sheet on a flat surface and.

Use the saw at a slower speed or keep the material cool by spraying water over the cut point during the saw operation. Be sure to use a compressor to keep the sheet in position to avoid chipping and more time needed to polish the cut. Cutting acrylic by hand is the easiest way to go for a beginner who isn t familiar with power tools. Fit a circular saw or table saw with a fine blade with crosscut teeth to prevent chipping the piece during the cut.

If you want a straight cut in a thin acrylic or polycarbonate plastic sheet up to inch thick reach for a simple utility knife then follow these steps. To cut acrylic sheets start by marking the line you want to cut using a ruler and a permanent marker. Cutting thin sheets of plastic. Clamp down the straight edge on the cut line.

Once you ve scored the initial line go over it a few times with the blade until a groove forms.