Working With Acrylic Sheets

Acrylite acrylic sheets are protected with paper or polyethylene masking on both sides.

Working with acrylic sheets.

Plexiglass or acrylic sheet this system works well for small pieces of plexiglass in thicknesses of up to 1 8 inch. Acrylite ar and acrylite gar acrylic sheet offer the excellent optical quality and ease of fabrication inherent in acrylite acrylic sheet with the added benefit of an abrasion and chemical resistant coating on one or both sides. Cast acrylic sheets are an. Its higher impact strength makes it a great glass replacement for applications such as garage door windows storm windows and other glazing needs.

Working with acrylite acrylic sheet is easy and fun no more difficult than wood and a lot more versatile. If your saw has enough runout to make the cut edge a bit rough blade will go deeper in a few places make the first cut about 1 2 of the width of the teeth on the. When the blade is working hard to make a cut through the middle of a sheet of acrylic the runout may be more of an issue than when just trimming a few thousandths off of the edge. If you try to drill a sheet of acrylic with conventional metal or wood drill bits there s a chance you ll end up cracking it.

Check to see where the blade of your scoring tool will land when you run it against the side of the straight edge. If you re working with a thick piece of acrylic you can use conventional drill bits if you first place a piece of masking tape over the area to be drilled. For thicker acrylic you will need to use a metal bar clamped very securely and you may only be able to work with narrow strips of material as your heat source may not be able to heat wider areas of thick material. Lay your acrylic sheet on a flat work surface and mark the line to be cut.

Sheet should be stored vertically preferably in a rack where the sheet can be fully supported and can lean at approximately a 10 degree angle. The edge of the blade should hit the line exactly. If acrylic sheet is stacked horizontally it must not be allowed to sag. When slightly heated an acrylic sheet will bend easily and maintain its new form after cooling.

Then arrange the straight edge so it s just slightly on the line and clamp it to the work surface. Working with acrylic sheets cut to size. A heat gun or an oven can be used to heat the acrylic sheet. If the sheet is thin use a step drill bit instead.