Cutting Acrylic Sheets With Jig Saw

Jigsaws ability to cut straight at angles and in a circular or another shape motion makes them versatile tools for cutting plexiglass along with a lot of your other woodworking needs.

Cutting acrylic sheets with jig saw.

How to cut plexiglass with a jigsaw. This is done by drilling a hole in the plexiglass then placing the jigsaw blade in the hole. Next hold the yardstick to the marked line and run the dull side of a utility knife along the yardstick to score the. Place the sheet over hard edge with groove side up.

Apply a strip of painter s tape to the cut line to prevent cracking. Lay the sheet on a flat surface and using a yardstick and a permanent marker or a grease marker measure and draw the. Clamp the sheet if. Most saws can be used t.

For the best results you ll want to support both sides of the cut line to reduce vibrations. Depending on the type of blade you use you will find that running the tool a t medium to low speeds is usually the best bet even though blades will be more important than speed overall. Mark your cut line with a grease pen. Use scoring knife to cut a narrow groove in the acrylic sheeting scoring preferably works on sheets less than 6 35mm in thickness.

This video shows how to easily cut acrylic sheet such as perspex lucite plexiglas optix oroglas acrylite sumipex cryolite etc. Place the plexiglas sheet on an even work bench or table. To cut acrylic sheets with a jigsaw you will want a jigsaw with a good range of speed control and a variable speed control will help out a little. Cover the cut line by sticking a line of wide painter s.

If you cut too fast the acrylic will melt from the heat the friction creates and your project will be a mess. The key to cutting acrylic with a jigsaw is to keep the speed low. Mark the area of sheet you want to cut. If you get stuck at an angle pull the jigsaw out the way you came and cut from the other edge.

Using lubricating oil can help prevent friction from building to a point where the acrylic begins to melt but take care to avoid flammable lubricants or. However the process requires following steps. The advantage of using a jigsaw is the ability to cut shapes with rounded corners however cutting too slowly can melt the acrylic and applying too much pressure can cause the edges to chip. Push the jigsaw from the outer edge towards your body along the line you made so you can constantly keep your eye on the blade and the line.