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Routing acrylic

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Seith:
Here's what I did to not only cut my acrylic, but to also cut an identical template board if I ever needed to recreate my control panel in the future:



From bottom to top:  Original Control panel top, plexi, board which will become my template

Run your flush trim bit around that to get the shape, and you come out with this:





Now, I used hole saw bits instead of spade bits after reading on here that people have had bad experiences with spade bits cracking plexi no matter how slow they went.  I took a test piece of MDF and drilled it, just to see how the hole would come out:





As you can see, there's quite a bit of blowout on the bottom, so I sandwiched a piece of particle board to the bottom of my rig:



I went to drill using the hole saw bit and came out with this:





L to R:  Control panel, plexiglass, template panel

I also got a 45 degree chamfer bit for my router and did the trackball lip:





Hope that helps!

CoryBee:
Nice guys, nice. Couldn't have asked for a better answer than what you guys gave. Bookmarking for future use for sure. I like the idea of making a template at the same time.

Yaksplat, you are a genius. Or just really nice for making that step by step mini guide, will be doing this only a little different. No drill press, but i can drill pilot holes for sure than finish out with the flush trim bit.  :cheers:

selfie:
From my Working with plastics thread



--- Quote from: selfie on March 28, 2012, 09:16:50 pm ---
Drilling

I've heard some interesting methods for drilling plastics over the years. Running bits in reverse is a common one but I remember my high school shop teacher taught the "Correct" way to do it was to blunten the drill bit on the concrete floor before drilling plastics. ::)

The key to cutting clean holes is to scrape not cut. Any standard twist drill can be sharpened to cut acrylic by taking the leading edge off the cutting surface.



Spade bits like this can be resharpened to scrape not cut and used

but NOT spade bits with the points like this


Forstner Bits and hole sawsare suitable also


When drilling thicker material start with a small pilot hole and drill half the thickness from both sides and never use a lot of force.

--- End quote ---

yaksplat:
Anytime you drill, you should always have a backer piece on whatever you're drilling.  This will eliminate all tearout from the back side.  I have several scraps that I use solely as drill backers that are covered with dril marks.  You don't have to worry about this as much with hardwoods, but definitely on plywoods and particle boards.

I don't agree with the melting instead of cutting for plastics.  As long as the plastic is supported, the bit is sharp and the pressure is even, you will get a perfect hole every time.  Using my drill press, I apply a lot of pressure on the bit and it cuts wonderful spirals of plastic.  With metal working the theory is 'more feed, less speed' for good cutting practice.  I've found that this works for plastic as well.

wcndave:
Some confusion on terms as well.  this is a holesaw



What Selfie posted a picture of and Self demonstrated blowout with are Forstner bits.

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