Good saw blade for plastic?

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

I need to get a blade for my compound miter saw to cut plastic, specifically plastic tube and half tube. I've got a regular wood blade on it, which someone said works for plastic, but it usually chips the heck out of the edges if it doesn't just fling the piece into the far regions of the garage.

 

[fuelish]

I would use something with a lot of teeth and a narrow kerf, like a crosscut blade.

 

[darth_myeek]

I agree with Fuelish.


There are expensive blades out there (freud), but I bet a cheapo plywood saw blade would work well. It might sound crazy, but possibly using the blade backwards might work too

Here is an example of a premium blade.

Below is the cheapie blade. $4.00

 

[hydin]

Also, a good suggestion is to tape the living hell out of the tube you want to cut.

Use masking tape, and put at least 10 layers around the outside of that tube. Once you get that, draw where you want to cut, and it tends to stop the plastic from going crazy with cracking and snapping.

I used a bandsaw with a metal cutting blade for mine, but it has a ton of little tiny teeth on it. I also go pretty slow so the tube doesn't shatter.

Chris

 

[Szyntax]

I use a tablesaw and a laminate blade. Cuts great.

 

[defstartrooper]

Yeah the smaller the teeth and the more of them the better.

 

[asavage]

at TAP plastics, for their table saws, they use an
80 tooth
Triple chip (that means that one tooth cuts at one angle, the next at a flat angle and the next one at the opposite angle, alternating 1 2 3 all around the blade)
Zero kerf blade.

These cut acrylic VERY well (they do finishing on the acrylic edges with a router) but a warning: if you buy a blade to cut plastic, use it ONLY for plastic. Then it will give you a long life. At most fx shops I worked at, we had to swap out the blade for important cuts and then put it away again.

 

[exoray]

Mount a fine tooth (plywood) blade on backwards... I was shown this by a vinyl siding guy and it's not a perfect solution but a cheap one that gets the job done surprisingly well...

 

[swgeek]

at TAP plastics, for their table saws, they use an
80 tooth
Triple chip (that means that one tooth cuts at one angle, the next at a flat angle and the next one at the opposite angle, alternating 1 2 3 all around the blade)

I don't mean to question the great asavage:lol but...

I've always understood a triple chip to be a flat tooth followed by a tooth with a 3 angle grind followed by a flat tooth(see picture). You also want a positive rake for plastics. And like Adam says, only use it fro plastics.

 

[Paradox]

Mount a fine tooth (plywood) blade on backwards... I was shown this by a vinyl siding guy and it's not a perfect solution but a cheap one that gets the job done surprisingly well...

+1
Used to do this when I was building scenery in college.

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

Thanks for the info!

 

[fuelish]

I just cut some plastic blinds with a fresh 60t Skil carbide blade. Used it in a miter saw, smooth like butter.