How to cut acrylic by hand.
Cutting acrylic sheet with a router.
Score the line in the acrylic with a plastic scoring blade.
Cutting acrylic with your industrial cnc router step 1.
However there are some basic things you need to know in order to ensure success and give you a smooth finish when cutting acrylic on your stepcraft cnc system unlike wood acrylic will have a sweet spot in terms of speeds feeds and depth per pass that you want to be aware of.
First of all use a similar rpm.
If you don t have one of several types of power saws available to use if you have a router it is possible to cut plexiglass with it provided you have the correct blade designed to make a flush cut a variable speed router when done right will cut plexiglass the heat generated by both power saws and router bits is enough to melt some of the plastic polymer material that comprises plexiglass.
All you need is a thin acrylic sheet a straight edge that is longer than your cut clamps and a scoring knife.
If it s not it can vibrate or flex ruining your cut.
Adjust the length of the router bit so that it cuts completely through the thickness of the plexiglass sheet.
Place the router base onto the plexiglass.
When cutting acrylic you won t get the best result using wood cutting bits as cutting and chip removal.
The actual machining of acrylic on a cnc router is in many ways similar to machining polycarbonate.
These bits are made especially for cutting acrylic.
For best results use another tool like.
This is the most common method and since saw blades are easy to find it s a great option for everyone.
Clamps may also be used to hold the template to the material and moved when necessary.
Templates can be made from plywood fiberboard or rigid plastic.
Cutting acrylic by hand is the easiest way to go for a beginner who isn t familiar with power tools.
Here a few tool options for cutting acrylic.
Pull the blade towards you along the line.
The template is typically held to the sheet using vacuum or two sided adhesive tape.
Using your ruler as a guide run a plastic scoring blade along the cutting line trying to make one continuous line with gentle even pressure.
Insert the acrylic cutting bit into the router and lock it into place.
The router is guided around a precut template pattern that is fastened to the acrylic sheet.
Make sure that the acrylic is held down securely.
The majority of acrylic blanks are milled.
Clamp down the straight edge on the cut line.
