Main > Main Forum
Routing acrylic
CoryBee:
How should I cut and drill acrylic for a small panel? I figure i could cut the acrylic to a rectangle, sandwich over the panel and flush trim it to perfection. For the holes I was wondering if I should use a spade bit like I have been which takes time cause you need to go slower or use a flush trim bit on it after I drill the holes in the wood.
Any help is welcomed, I would rather not buy new tools if the ones I have can do it, albeit a bit slower. Thanks :cheers:
Venomouse:
Brother and I used a fine jigsaw blade and spade bits, the tip is with the spade bit drill from the side thats the top, and go slow.
selfie:
Use a smaller spade bit then flush trim to finish
Read this any other Q's just ask
gamepimp:
I had zero luck drilling acrylic (plexiglas) and actually ruined a very expensive piece trying to do that. So what I ended up doing was taking a straight cutting router bit (the kind that u can plunge down into material and cut a slot or remove material) and plunging it down thru the plastic to make a hole. I held the router at an angle so that the bit would gradually cut thru the material. The bit was 1/2" diameter, so that gave me a good hole to put the flush trim bit thru so I could remove the rest of the material to the exact size of the hole. Worked like a charm. Btw I used a laminate router to make the initial hole. It was easy to start the hole at an angle due to the small size of the router. Doing it with a full size router might b more of a challenge. But maybe a plunge router could be used to go straight thru slowly?
yaksplat:
here's my process (over a dozen panels and not a crack yet)
1.) Build and Drill panel
2.) clamp plexi to the panel
3.) mark all holes with a black marker in the center of each
4.) write 'UP' on the panel so i know which side faces up
5.) remove clamps
6.) On drill press, use a 5/8" forstner bit (ordinary drill will work too)
7.) drill holes on all the marks, making sure the back of the plexi is always supported
8.) reclamp the plexi to the CP, making sure that 'UP' is facing up and that all holes are roughly centered in their respective locations
9.) rout the outer edge using a 1/2" flush bit at high speed, moving clamps where necessary
10.) rout all of the button holes
if the panel contains a happ trackball mounting plate:
1.) Mount the plate on the panel
2.) Use the above process but rout the trackball hole within around 1/8" of the metal plate (router bit + metal = bad!)
3.) Clamp the CP and plexi in a bench vise vertically
3.) Using a drum sander attachment in a drill, the remaining plexi is sanded off up to the metal edge
Hope that Helps! :cheers:
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version