Cutting Acrylic Sheets With Jig Saw

This is done by drilling a hole in the plexiglass then placing the jigsaw blade in the hole.

Cutting acrylic sheets with jig saw.

The advantage of using a jigsaw is the ability to cut shapes with rounded corners however cutting too slowly can melt the acrylic and applying too much pressure can cause the edges to chip. Mark the area of sheet you want to cut. Clamp the sheet if. Mark your cut line with a grease pen.

Push the jigsaw from the outer edge towards your body along the line you made so you can constantly keep your eye on the blade and the line. Place the plexiglas sheet on an even work bench or table. Cover the cut line by sticking a line of wide painter s. Depending on the type of blade you use you will find that running the tool a t medium to low speeds is usually the best bet even though blades will be more important than speed overall.

Set up the acrylic glass on 2 beams so that you can cut through it with the jigsaw. To cut acrylic sheets with a jigsaw you will want a jigsaw with a good range of speed control and a variable speed control will help out a little. This video shows how to easily cut acrylic sheet such as perspex lucite plexiglas optix oroglas acrylite sumipex cryolite etc. Most saws can be used t.

Use a yard stick or ruler to roughly measure the length of plexiglas you wish to cut. However the process requires following steps. Next hold the yardstick to the marked line and run the dull side of a utility knife along the yardstick to score the. Using lubricating oil can help prevent friction from building to a point where the acrylic begins to melt but take care to avoid flammable lubricants or.

If you get stuck at an angle pull the jigsaw out the way you came and cut from the other edge. Score again and again as many as 10 or 12 times. Lay the sheet on a flat surface and using a yardstick and a permanent marker or a grease marker measure and draw the. The key to cutting acrylic with a jigsaw is to keep the speed low.

For the best results you ll want to support both sides of the cut line to reduce vibrations. Use scoring knife to cut a narrow groove in the acrylic sheeting scoring preferably works on sheets less than 6 35mm in thickness. Apply a strip of painter s tape to the cut line to prevent cracking. If you cut too fast the acrylic will melt from the heat the friction creates and your project will be a mess.