Cutting Acrylic Sheet With A Router

Place the router base onto the plexiglass.

Cutting acrylic sheet with a router.

Here a few tool options for cutting acrylic. Clamp down the straight edge on the cut line. Using your ruler as a guide run a plastic scoring blade along the cutting line trying to make one continuous line with gentle even pressure. However there are some basic things you need to know in order to ensure success and give you a smooth finish when cutting acrylic on your stepcraft cnc system unlike wood acrylic will have a sweet spot in terms of speeds feeds and depth per pass that you want to be aware of.

How to cut acrylic by hand. If you don t have one of several types of power saws available to use if you have a router it is possible to cut plexiglass with it provided you have the correct blade designed to make a flush cut a variable speed router when done right will cut plexiglass the heat generated by both power saws and router bits is enough to melt some of the plastic polymer material that comprises plexiglass. This is the most common method and since saw blades are easy to find it s a great option for everyone. Pull the blade towards you along the line.

For best results use another tool like. The majority of acrylic blanks are milled. Cutting acrylic by hand is the easiest way to go for a beginner who isn t familiar with power tools. Cutting acrylic with your industrial cnc router step 1.

First of all use a similar rpm. These bits are made especially for cutting acrylic. Once you ve fixed acrylic into place it s time to cut to the chase so to speak. Make sure that the acrylic is held down securely.

All you need is a thin acrylic sheet a straight edge that is longer than your cut clamps and a scoring knife. When cutting acrylic you won t get the best result using wood cutting bits as cutting and chip removal. Templates can be made from plywood fiberboard or rigid plastic. Adjust the length of the router bit so that it cuts completely through the thickness of the plexiglass sheet.

The template is typically held to the sheet using vacuum or two sided adhesive tape. Clamps may also be used to hold the template to the material and moved when necessary. Score the line in the acrylic with a plastic scoring blade. Insert the acrylic cutting bit into the router and lock it into place.

The router is guided around a precut template pattern that is fastened to the acrylic sheet. The actual machining of acrylic on a cnc router is in many ways similar to machining polycarbonate.