web56n Posted July 11, 2003 Report Share Posted July 11, 2003 This short and sweet guide may be for the newbie or the hardcore modder alike. I will show you the easiest and cleanest way, not to mention the fastest way! to cut plexi or acrylic. first off, get one of these, you should be able to buy one at your local hardware store. ( about $4.00 ) each blade will last a long time this here will cut acrylic up to 1/2" thick. ( or plexi ) If you've never used one be CAREFUL they like to eat your fingers... to do this you set your mark and using a straight edge start at farthest end from you, then pull the knife back letting it dig into acrylic. you have to make sure that you keep it against the straight edge or you will score off line, repeat this a few times then just pick up acrylic and try to bend it. if you have scored it deep enough it will just snap on the line you just made. usually it takes a couple of draw backs to get it right.... remember DO NOT get your fingers in the way.... OK this will cut a perfect straight line like this here is what I just cut to show you. if you look close there is very little to clean, the deeper you score the better it turns out. if you don't like the look of the edge you just cut you can take a plumber's tourch and swiftly run the flame around the edge. it will make it like glass no sanding is needed... however you can not do it to much or you'll burn the edge. try it on a test piece before you start cutting up the pieces that you want! So you want to get fancy, that's fine all you have to do is have a solid guide that you can run the cutter against just like the straight edge for example if you want a curve in your cut. you just end up with a curved cut (everything is the same as cutting straight) if you look close to the bottom left edge, that is what you get if you don't hold cutter against the guide ( if the small piece is just scrap that's fine but if it's the piece you need that's not good) caution with the first few strokes avoids that.. again proceed with CAUTION this little guy will take a bite out of your fingers here is close up of curved cut. remember to measure twice cut once!! and like all other sharp objects keep away from children I hope this helps in your plexi or acrylic cutting adventures. web56n.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruceleeon Posted July 11, 2003 Report Share Posted July 11, 2003 good stuff... thanks for the post... but how would you recommend i cut this half inch plexi i have in front of me... I was just going to use a jigsaw, but if you know a better way.. bring it on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
web56n Posted July 11, 2003 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2003 good stuff... thanks for the post... but how would you recommend i cut this half inch plexi i have in front of me... I was just going to use a jigsaw, but if you know a better way.. bring it on. you can easily cut the half inch with one of these as well just keep on scoring the line, you will finally get deep enough to snap 1/2" thick plexi. you'll still end up with a nice clean cut. remember once you have got a groove started, it's easy to just score without the straight edge. because the line is deep enough to guide you.. good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
[TMX]RdMaxx Posted July 11, 2003 Report Share Posted July 11, 2003 Hey just wondering if there is a safe and easy way to bend plexi or acrylic was wanting to make some air flow guides and did not want to have to join a bunch of pieces together ???? and if there is and option with fire in it I will take that one HEHE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
web56n Posted July 11, 2003 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2003 RdMaxx"]Hey just wondering if there is a safe and easy way to bend plexi or acrylic was wanting to make some air flow guides and did not want to have to join a bunch of pieces together ???? and if there is and option with fire in it I will take that one HEHE ok so you want to bend some acrylic... for the do it at home bending, I would recommend a heat gun, depending on how large a piece you need to bend that will work just fine. just clamp the piece you want to bend down on a piece of steel not a kitchen table or you'll end up with more trouble than it's worth.. just heat the area up and slowly start to bend it into position, can get nice 90*bends with practice. or if you need to glue the joints, only use IPS weld-on # 4 acrylic contact cemment. if done properly you won't see any joints it bonds clear super clear.( just by following the directions.) WARNING: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO HEAT IT UP IN A HOUSEHOLD OVEN. the reason being, when acrylic or plexi becomes close to the flash point it also let's off gasses (that's when you can start to smell it) if it's enclosed the gasses build up and it could (RARE) but could ignite .....bye bye stove and modding project! and possibly YOU. good luck and play careful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rbreb13 Posted July 11, 2003 Report Share Posted July 11, 2003 Good tips, man! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PC-HAngover Posted August 25, 2003 Report Share Posted August 25, 2003 Hey thx for the info on the contact cement. I was planning on doing a little more acrylic work in a while. I need to fix up my toolbox case a little. Before I just heated the pieces up and stuck them together. But it kind of looks ugly like that. I only use it to hold my front usb/firewire ports on anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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