Cutting plexiglass

[TresCrows]

Lexan and Plexiglass are trade names for two different materials. One is an acrylic and the other is a polycarbonate. The Lexan type materials sold under many names now are what you want for your purpose. The Lexan is what bullet proof windows are made off. It is actually a clear rubber---sorta--my best description. Lexan can be bent in a break and drilled with regular bits and unibits. It saws nicely with a fine tooth table saw, a band saw works good too. Jig saws and scroll saws with fine blades may work on Lexan. Plexi--NOPE--it will crack out, requires special drilling techniques and in general is more brittle. It cannot be bent in a break but it can be heat formed---Lexan does not heat form well. I work with this tuff all the time. Lexan scratches easier than Plexi and scratches can be removed from Plexi with proper materials and procedures, usually not with Lexan.
Oh, you can file the edges with a Vixen file for final shaping or use a belt sander with fine paper. J

 

[jimg]

I think nearly all plastics can be cut w/ conventional woodworking gear. Some have mentioned that bandsawing leads to melting. Im wondering if more kerf might be the answer to that and moving along a bit faster. The router idea could work but then again you need to move right along and use a sharp bit. However, (as was mentioned) for an straight cut use your TS. More teeth on the blade w/o necessrily give a better cut. Its the tooth geometry that makes the cut (well yes it does have to be sharp too). There are blades which have tooth geometry just for hard to cut materials like plastic, melaminea etc. Oh, also for the TS and BS use a 0 clearnce thorat plate. That will make a big differnece in cut too.

 

[fivestring]

Thanks, everyone, for the replies.
I guess I'll be trying several ways until I find what works the best.

I see lexan in my future..... /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif