Cutting Acrylic advice needed.

Centurion

Active Member
Bit of advcie needed folks and if nobody on these forums does'nt know then nobody will.

Have got some black 1mm acrylic coming that is to be used as the visor of helmet at some point in the very near future. I've already thought of using craft paper or similar to get the outline on the space where the visor will be going but I'm kind of stumped as to how to actually cut the acrylic once I have it delivered.:confused:confused

From what I gather this stuff is usually cut by a laser but I obviously don't have one of those lurking at the back of the garage so any advice/hints/tips on how to cut this material myself would be gratefully appreciated.:):)

Many thanks in advance folks.(y)thumbsup

Iain.
 
You can cut it with a razor saw by hand or with a power table saw. Power saws will melt the material. You can get a special blade with lots of fine teeth (similar to a plywood cutting blade) that is made for cutting acrylic.

The cutting wheel of a Dremel works, but it can be hard to control and can melt the material. BE SURE TO WEAR SAFETY GLASSES (I prefer a face shield) as flying shards are very hard and sharp! You can easily break the cutting wheel if you are not careful and that can cause worse injury than the shards of material.

If you are using power tools and they melt the material, molten bits can fly off and land on your skin causing burns. Be careful.

If you are making a straight cut, try the "score and snap" method. Using a sharp scriber, scribe the material. It's very hard stuff, so go slow and be patient. Make as many passes as needed to get at least 1/3 of the way into the material. Then, snap the part free.

You may be able to get an acrylic scriber at a home center. If they sell glazing panels (acrylic sheets for greenhouses, etc.) they may have a special tool for cutting it.

This material is not easy to work with and takes some practice to get the hang of it. I recommend getting a benchtop sanding station and you can then, with a little practice, machine the edges very nicely.
 
Trust me-
If its 1mm acrylic, you dont want to go anywhere near it with power tools in the raw form, it'll either burnt up or chip to buggery ( technical term for those 'in the know' ;-) )
I would do the following:
Get two pieces of MDF, prob around 5mm thick.
Using double sided tape, go around the outside of the acrylic on both sides, covering over the shape/outline you want to have remaining. You just need the basic double sided tape, and remember to do both side of the acrylic. You should leave the protective film on the acrylic too, if you have it on there.
Transfer the outline and location of the shape you need to the top most piece of MDF

Now, peel off the double sided tape film, and make a sandwich, with the acrylic as filling, the MDF as the bread, making sure the outlines all line up.
It should now be safe to use a jigsaw to cut out the acrylic without chipping...
to seperate the parts after cutting, use lighter fluid to loosen up the remaining tape...dont force it or you might snap the acrylic.
This should work for you, if I've made sense!
D
 
Thanks for all the advice guys. It's very much appreciated.

Will go with the fine toothed razor saw methinks(will parctice on some scrap I have from a previous helmet) and if I don't feel comfortable with that method I'll go with the MDF method.I don't have a dremel and I'm not going to fork out for one just for this so it'll need to be done by hand.


Iain.
 
If you are using power tools and they melt the material, molten bits can fly off and land on your skin causing burns. Be careful.

Suck it up and take it like a man is my personal technique. :lol

1mm thickness should be no big deal at all. Although if you're cutting Perspex by Lucite (the typical acrylic available in the UK), just watch for splinters. Don't rub it the wrong way along a cut. If you're just talking standard North American acrylic plastic, you should be ok. The two look the same, but they don't drill/sand/cut/machine the same.

If you can deal with the typical ultra-dark green shades (they look black from the front), the welding visors that a lot of costumers use for Fett helmets can be bought on the cheap in .040" and .060" thicknesses (1mm-1.5mm), and you can simply cut those poly-carbo's with strong scissors and they are relatively flexible without the brittleness of acrylic. Sometimes you can find smoked visors (that aren't green), but you'd have to dig around a lot.
 
Last edited:
Singelseat kind of hinted at it, but if you are going for a helmet visor, i would have thought that poly-carbonate would have been a more flexible choice than acrylic. Most home improvement stores and even craft stores have this in plentiful stock. If acrylic is truly what you need then the advice wit the MDF seems to me to be your best bet.
 
Thanks for all the advice guys. It's very much appreciated.

Will go with the fine toothed razor saw methinks(will parctice on some scrap I have from a previous helmet) and if I don't feel comfortable with that method I'll go with the MDF method.I don't have a dremel and I'm not going to fork out for one just for this so it'll need to be done by hand.


Iain.
you should fork it out . trust me you will use it for a lot of things and they are very worth the money. even the cheaper brand ones will do the trick and some will last as long tool. I own 3 and a fordome and I really could not live with out them. if you are making cuts that are not holes (you can cut from the outside) then a band saw with a metal cutting blade (*looks like a continuous hacksaw blade) is the best bet, I cut tons of lenses for goggles all the time with one. (precut that is I used to use a cratex wheel to do final shaping of the edges but now use a lathe to turn the edges down) and I have cut even thinner than what you are working with and had good results. if the cut does not have to be ultra thin I would say get the double sided tape and do the MDF trick then use a dremel with the router attachment and a 1/8th (3mm) straight router bit.

and just a bit of advice on where to turn for this sort of work, besides here there is the build your own arcade controls forums. great guys and very helpful. I would be quite surprised if some of them are not on this board too.
 
Back
Top