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drilling/cutting holes in plexi?
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shardian:
Well jeez, if you want to go thru 10 times as much effort as you need to, and thoroughly enjoy overkilling things, then go right ahead.
somunny:
One thing I found when drilling plexi that is clamped betwwen two pieces of wood is that you have to really be careful to not let the plexi wander on you. 

What I did was clamp everthing together and drill pilot holes for the button on (or closest to) the four outermost corners of the panel.  Then I pushed nails through the pilot holes.  This will keep all the layers stationary throughout the process.

Obviously, you'll have to pull the nails to drill the last four holes but it's much easier to re-position the layers four times than 25 or thirty times.


Steve
ahofle:
I had good results with a spade bit.  If you put the drill on a very high speed and use LIGHT pressure, it will just start to melt through the plastic.  I think the chipping comes when the bit catches (pushing down on the drill too hard, drill not spinning fast enough, etc).   Definitely practice to get the hang of it.
AtomSmasher:

--- Quote from: shardian on August 18, 2006, 03:20:32 pm ---
--- Quote from: NightGod on August 18, 2006, 03:11:43 pm ---Flush trim bit and a router.

--- End quote ---
Not applicable to button holes...

--- End quote ---
On my CP I used a regular drill bit in reverse to drill (melt) holes big enough for the flush trim bit to fit into.  I then used the flush trim bit and quickly cut out all the holes.  It pretty much guarantees that you won't chip or crack the lexan and you know for sure that every hole is in exactly the right place.  Its extremely fast and easy to do, takes only a little longer then just drilling alone and you don't have to sandwich it between two peices of wood.
AtomSmasher:
Just to emphasis this.  When using a regular drill bit on plexi/lexan, always set the drill to reverse, it will melt through the plastic instead of cut through it.  If its set to forward it can easily snag and crack the lexan/plexi.
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