Cutting acrylic with...

[jcm_rdcs]

What do you use to cut acrylic? (1/4", 3/8")
Table saw with plywood blade?

also what to drill with regular or spade bits?

How do you cut 4" or larger acrylic tube? (for skimmer)

Homage to the DIY Gods..

[jeff967]

jcm_rdcs,
1- tablesaw good carbide rip blade. I make all cuts 1/8in big and then finish on routertable to size.
2- dulled reg. drills for small holes, spades & holesaws up to 1 3/4in, anything bigger I turn a steel templet on a lathe at work and use them on routertable.
3- cuts on large O.D. tube I use a chopsaw with a good carbide blade chop down and slowly rotate the tube to finesh the cut.
hope this helps,
jeff

[JDM130]

A good triple chip blade is best for cutting acrylic, but very costly. If you have a router and/or a router table you can use the blade you mentioned. Use the router on a straight edge with a flush trim bit to clean up the cut edge.

I use a table saw to cut the Larger pipe. I clamp a piece of plywood to the gate, the back side of the table and to the slide. See the attached pic to understand what I mean. To make a perfect cut, make sure the end that will be against the gate is square.

HTH........Jeff

[jcm_rdcs]

Thanks for the reply, very helpful

[kanankeban]

I've been cutting up to 1/2" acrylic with a regular 7" plastic saw blade from home depot, I think 7 bucks or so...so Its a good and cheap option for a DIY...If you go full profesional production you'll have to go for the 150 bucks or so blades:eek1:

[Zephrant]

DIY- acrylic tube cutting (http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=169285)

DIY- Pins method of gluing acrylic (http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=1171757#post1171757)

Table saw blade selection (http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=150733)