Cut Holes In Acrylic Sheet

A brief shop tip on how to drill clean holes in acrylic and other plastics.

Cut holes in acrylic sheet.

All you need is a thin acrylic sheet a straight edge that is longer than your cut clamps and a scoring knife. How to cut acrylic by hand. Follow these instructions to cut a circle in a sheet of plexiglass. 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.

How to cut acrylic or perspex. 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. Acrylic and perspex can be used in a number of ways from bath and basin splashbacks to in a thicker form shelves. Plexiglass sometimes called transparent thermoplastic acrylic lucite and perspex is a polymer that is often used as an alternative to glass.

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 is a simple process but whichever method you use you need a saw with fine teeth. Valued for being shatter resistant plexiglass is used on construction. Thicknesses of acrylic and perspex vary from 1 5mm to over 25mm.

How to drill plexiglass. 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. A brief shop tip on how to drill clean holes in acrylic and other plastics. Using solvent based glues on laser cut extruded acrylic can cause cracking due to the internal stresses from temperature differences in the acrylic.

Brand names include lucite vitroflex perspex acrylex and many others. Acrylic sheets can be machined with most shop tools. Clamp down the straight edge on the cut line.