What table saw blade and router bit for acrylic?

[JediReefer]

I am going to cut out a "frame" with a 2" border for my tank as a just in case feature for my new firefish. Suggestions on good blades?

[faded1004]

not sure if this will help... but i used fine tooth... "finishing blade"? i feel it takes smaller chunks out and doesn't crack as much... it is very small teeth, and it doesn't have those carbide teeth... so the cutting isn't wider then the actual blade. also, when you cut, the cut line isn't that thick...

i have only cut smaller pieces... sump baffles, overflow boxes... but it might help...

[Bebo77]

pm James Acrylics he knows his stuff better then anyone...

[JediReefer]

Thanks for the tip faded. I will PM James Bebo, thanks for the referral.

[faded1004]

oh i forgot to say... not sure how much you are cutting... but i had an extra hand on an upside down can of air... super cooling the acrylic... i did that on long pieces and on holes i made... might help...

i did try water also... but the canned air was so quick... hahaha...

[Acrylics]

IME, a "good" blade will run a minimum of $60 or so and average around $100 +/- and decent bits start at around $20 and go up quickly.

If you have a plastic fabricator/distributor in your area, try pricing out having them do the cutting/routing for ya.
If you want to DIY just cuz, a finish blade will give okay results. If you plan on doing much of this, then get a decent blade, you can use NFM (non-ferrous metal) blades and they are just about as good as any acrylic blade, esp considering the $$ savings. These blades are designed to cut aluminum, brass, that sorta thing but cut plastics very well.
Not sure what type of router bit you are looking for so kinda hard to answer that. But just about any router bit that is good for wood and laminates will be fine for acrylic and many plastics.

HTH?
James

[Corriander]

My experience using blades to cut plastic suggests a high tooth count, hollow ground blade. A nice cheap version for little money is the 200T Firestorm blade. This blade resulted in no chipping or melting on cast acrylic on a table saw. It resulted in slight melting with extruded acrylic on a table saw.

I have also used with great success a 120T blade on a 12" radial arm saw for cutting smaller parts out of cast acrylic, though the results on extruded acrylic were rough. I usually try to follow up any cuts with a router though.

Most standard carbide tipped router bits work fine on acrylic. I have used 1/2" pattern bits (they have a roller on top to follow a pattern clamped to the material you are cutting) with great success for creating cutouts. A 1/2" flush trim bit (similar to the pattern bit but with the roller on the bottom istead of the top) is handy for touching up your edges after assembly.

To create precise edges with the pattern bit, I picked up some scrap steel 1/8" thick, 4"x30" plate, some pre-cut 6" gusset plates and a large L-ruler to clamp down on the acrylic. Be sure to use a piece of scrap acrylic for backing so you don't mar your project material with a clamp. As long as things are clamped firmly, you can fly though the material with little effort. As with every other cutting method, go slow if you are cutting extruded acrylic since it has a tendency to get melty.

You can pick up all of these bits and blades from HD or Lowes. The blades were around $25 and the router bits around $15-$20.

In case you are not sure if you have cast or extruded . . . cast usually comes with a brown paper protective backing where extruded usually has a blue plastic backing. For any vessel of significant size, you should be using cast.

[JediReefer]

Originally posted by Acrylics
IME, a "good" blade will run a minimum of $60 or so and average around $100 +/- and decent bits start at around $20 and go up quickly.

If you have a plastic fabricator/distributor in your area, try pricing out having them do the cutting/routing for ya.
If you want to DIY just cuz, a finish blade will give okay results. If you plan on doing much of this, then get a decent blade, you can use NFM (non-ferrous metal) blades and they are just about as good as any acrylic blade, esp considering the $$ savings. These blades are designed to cut aluminum, brass, that sorta thing but cut plastics very well.
Not sure what type of router bit you are looking for so kinda hard to answer that. But just about any router bit that is good for wood and laminates will be fine for acrylic and many plastics.

HTH?
James

Do you know of any fabricators in my general area? Anywhere in OC will work. Thanks for the help.

-Marc