Laminate Trimmer for Lexan?

[vjp]

Has anyone tried to use a laminate trimmer or a router with a flush trim bit to cut lexan?  It seems to me that this would be a great way to go.  You would simply mount your uncut lexan on your already drilled CP with the actual carriage bolts you plan to use.  From the other side, drill pilot holes thru the pushbutton & joystick holes in your CP.  Flip it back over, and use a flush trim bit or laminate trimmer bit (which cuts a nice small bevel) and run the ball bearing guide against the wood inside the hole you cut out in the CP.  If this idea works, it would eliminate any measuring errors when cutting your lexan.

Any Thoughts?

[1UP]

BTW, you can use a straight cutter with the bearing on the top rather than the bottom (opposite of the laminate trimmer), so no pilot holes...  You just put the lexan under the CP instead of over it.

Yes, I have used my router, but just to cut the lexan down to size.  Haven't cut any holes yet.  May do some today, will let you know how it goes...  One thing that happens is that the lexan tends to melt a little.  So at the end of your cut, there are a bunch of plastic chips melted to the edge.  You have to at least scrape them off, and if the edge will be visible (like at the edge of your CP) you'll need to heat, sand or buff to get rid of the whiteness of the edge after you cut.

[SNAAAKE]

Yo can use dremel to cut it.Or the old school way,with a cheap $6 plexi glass cutter.

[OSCAR]

Has anyone tried to use a laminate trimmer or a router with a flush trim bit to cut lexan?  It seems to me that this would be a great way to go.  You would simply mount your uncut lexan on your already drilled CP with the actual carriage bolts you plan to use.  From the other side, drill pilot holes thru the pushbutton & joystick holes in your CP.  Flip it back over, and use a flush trim bit or laminate trimmer bit (which cuts a nice small bevel) and run the ball bearing guide against the wood inside the hole you cut out in the CP.  If this idea works, it would eliminate any measuring errors when cutting your lexan.

Any Thoughts?

Yes, I have used a staight router bit to cut lexan, and it gives the best edge you can get.  I mentioned this in a post a few days ago, but I've tried many different ways of cutting plexi/lexan, including scoring with a razor knife, rotozip, jigsaw, everything.  The router bit gives the best and straightest edge of all methods I've tried.

The bit that 1UP mentioned with the bearing on top is called a template bit.  It is the single most valuable bit I own.  I use it for everything.  Since the bearing is on the top, you can use the bit for plunge cutting, trimming laminate (laminate side down), making exact copies of other pieces by laying the original over uncut stock(very nice for making exact cabinet sides), and lots of other uses.  The laminate bit I have causes the melting that 1UP mentioned, but my template bit doesn't.  Maybe that's because my template bit is a 2-flute 1/2", and the template bit is a 1-flute 1/4"?

Here's a page that shows how I used a router for cutting the lexan for a control panel, including the button holes.  http://www.skum.org/bartop/construction.htm.  If you look close at this picture, http://www.skum.org/bartop/images/constr12.jpg, you can see it leaves a perfectly clean edge, no melted chips or anything on the groove that is cut halfway through.  I started cutting, then stopped and backed it up to take a picture.

[1UP]

Hey, Oscar, I'm using the same thing I think...  1/2" carbide bit with 2 cutting surfaces (flutes?) and bearing on top.  It still melts, though it seems the faster I cut, the less melting occurs...

[OSCAR]

I guess it can only be 1 of 2 things... either the router or the bit.  Maybe your router doesn't spin at a high enough rpm, I don't know??  I have probably the most popular router ever sold, the Porter-Cable 693 which runs at 23,000 rpm.

I also noticed that my laminate bit doesn't seem to be a very high quality bit, and the flute doesn't appear to be as sharp as my template bit.  I now buy all my router bits (including my template bit) from www.leevalley.com.  Not only are they the best bits I've used, they are also very affordable.  If you check them out, you'll see that the bodies of them are green.  That green coating is a very slick, epoxy-like coating.  I don't know if that has anything to do with it, though.

I was originally thinking that my laminate bit was just crappy, but if you are using a 2-flute carbide bit like my template bit, then there might be more to it.  All I know is that I won't be using my laminate bit any more for plexi or lexan!