Cutting Acrylic (Plexiglass)

[Steven in Iowa]

Have any of you cut acrylic with the TS 55?  I cut a piece several weeks ago for the top of my rollaround and I cut it too snug and now with warmer weather it has expanded in width.  I need to trim it about 1/64 and don't want to drag out the cabinet saw if possible.  I have a fairly new blade that is the stock tooth count and thought I'd trim it on top of a piece of pink Styrofoam.  Any comments on whether it will chip or not?

 

[peter halle]

Use the finest blade you have.  It will cut fine.

 

[Dave Ronyak]

And Festool recommends turning down the speed to prevent melting of the plastic being sawed.

Dave R.

 

[monte]

Have any of you cut acrylic with the TS 55?  I cut a piece several weeks ago for the top of my rollaround and I cut it too snug and now with warmer weather it has expanded in width.  I need to trim it about 1/64 and don't want to drag out the cabinet saw if possible.  I have a fairly new blade that is the stock tooth count and thought I'd trim it on top of a piece of pink Styrofoam.  Any comments on whether it will chip or not?

Steven,

The stands you see below all have one inch acrylic side panels.

Straight and Angled cuts (one the other side)

All cut with the TS55 and Festools blade for plastics.

On slow speed. (leave the paper on the plastic until your done)

Take a practice run first.

(if you have to stop in the middle of the cut..........don't)

The edge treatment afterwards is a flame finish.

Another whole subject matter.

cheers,
Roger

ps. if your cutting thin stock you might consider putting a thin piece of sacrificial wood on top.

Thus sandwiching the acrylic, be sure that your cutting board below does not have a bunch of trench cuts already cut into it.
(it could splinter out the plastic if you do)

[attachimg=#]

 

[monte]

oh, ..............and you could also cut cast resin with that little puppy.

(wet sanded - with block,  down to about 600 grit)

be sure to get the engine running full throttle (at slow speed) before you engage the resin or the acrylic with the blade.

[attachimg=#]

[attachimg=#]

[attachimg=#]

"Spirit Ship" - 2008 - Savatteri

 

[peter halle]

Roger,

You do the coolest stuff!!

Peter

 

[Steven in Iowa]

Well thanks to you guys, I used my TS55 and it cut beautifully.  Only trimmed about .015 off one edge and it only required knocking a small burr off when I finished.  Thanks for all of your replies.

And Roger, your work is both unique and very nice.

 

[monte]

Steven,

Glad it worked out for u.

& thank you for your thoughts.

Roger

by the way, if you haven't routed acrylic yet - it routers very nicely - again, at a slow speed.

 

[lordinteriors]

i know this is an old thread but im trying to recreate some of rogers work with my own design flair and need advice on edge finishing of acrylic any tutorials, links, pictures, videos, advice would be much appreciated thanks in advance
                                                                                                  lee

 

[Ari]

Roger, sorry for bringing this topic again.

Do you remember what blade for plastic you used for cutting these beautiful acrylic work?

a) Special saw blade 160x2,2x20 TF48 - Part# 496308 or

b) Special saw blade 160x2,2x20 TF52 - Part # 496306

Thank you and best regards from

Ari

 

[L.Alexander]

Acrylic / perspex can be tricky at times to cut. I've done this with the TS55R and CS70 bench. the trick is (on the TS55R anyway) do a score cut at speed 2 on your first pass say 1 or 2mm depending on the thickness of material you're cutting, then drop the blade to the thickness of the material or 2mm further so the blade can cut effectively. I'd recommend doing this on the MFT or using a sacrificial board underneath so the acrylic doesn't crack from underneath. use a 48 tooth blade, finer the better. a coarse blade or lower tooth blade will destroy perspex.

Lew

 

[Stephen B]

Acrylic / perspex can be tricky at times to cut. I've done this with the TS55R and CS70 bench. the trick is (on the TS55R anyway) do a score cut at speed 2 on your first pass say 1 or 2mm depending on the thickness of material you're cutting, then drop the blade to the thickness of the material or 2mm further so the blade can cut effectively. I'd recommend doing this on the MFT or using a sacrificial board underneath so the acrylic doesn't crack from underneath. use a 48 tooth blade, finer the better. a coarse blade or lower tooth blade will destroy perspex.

Lew

Masking tape top and bottom helps too either with jigsaw or t 55.

 

[Ari]

Many thanks Alexander and Stephen for the very useful tip!!

Best from Ari

 

[upscale]

Have any of you cut acrylic with the TS 55?  I cut a piece several weeks ago for the top of my rollaround and I cut it too snug and now with warmer weather it has expanded in width.  I need to trim it about 1/64 and don't want to drag out the cabinet saw if possible.

Perhaps you could've considered a different option. I had some pieces of 3/8" acrylic cut for me to use as shelves for a stereo cabinet. They were cut about 1/16" too big. I used a palm router (inside a plastic back to contain the dust) to trim them to size, then a card scraper to scrape the edges completely flat and then a polishing wheel to buff them to a completely finished edge. Each edge (about 20" length) took me about ten minutes.

 

[Michael Kellough]

Have any of you cut acrylic with the TS 55?  I cut a piece several weeks ago for the top of my rollaround and I cut it too snug and now with warmer weather it has expanded in width.  I need to trim it about 1/64 and don't want to drag out the cabinet saw if possible.

Perhaps you could've considered a different option. I had some pieces of 3/8" acrylic cut for me to use as shelves for a stereo cabinet. They were cut about 1/16" too big. I used a palm router (inside a plastic back to contain the dust) to trim them to size, then a card scraper to scrape the edges completely flat and then a polishing wheel to buff them to a completely finished edge. Each edge (about 20" length) took me about ten minutes.

If I had to knock that much back I'd start with a belt sander on slow speed and keep it moving to avoid putting too much heat into any one spot.

When cutting acrylic use minimal blade projection and speed. Feed rate should be slow and steady but not so slow that the material starts melting. As when cutting aluminum, lubrication (WD-40) also helps.

 

[upscale]

If I had to knock that much back I'd start with a belt sander on slow speed and keep it moving to avoid putting too much heat into any one spot.

Given different circumstances, I'd have used a table saw with a suitable plastic cutting blade. However, I was working inside my apartment where dust and debris is a BIG concern. We all work with what we have.

 

[rst]

As an acrylic and polycarbonate distributor and fabricator, I have found that for small runs I can use my TS 75 and tracks to be easier and faster than using my sliding table saw.  Either a dedicated plastics blade (Amana and Freud are more price friendly) or a triple chip blade for a miter saw (negative rake).  I recently cut a pile (5 pieces of 1/8") acrylic at max speed with absolutely no chipping and melting (keep saw moving steadily.  In regards to edge finishing; scrape.  Using a wood scraper or even a knife or razor edge, just like wood finishing.  Scraping works so much better than sanding or buffing.  If you need a clear edge, pull back the protective wrap and using a torch (propane or welding) flame the edge. This takes a little practice.  You must keep moving fairly fast (to keep the plastic from bubbling) and keep the flame at an angle.