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Cutting acrylic plastic for case? Would a dremel or drill+milling table work?

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KL27x:
Honestly, I just cut a piece of 1/8" acrylic in my garage with my dozuki, just to make sure I'm not full of it. I now have a garage full of power tools. So it's been awhile since I hand-cut acrylic. These days, I use a bandsaw and router table.

Beau T ful cut, right on the line. Engineering square straight. It takes time to do, but very little skill or effort. So if you can stand in one spot for a few minutes, you can make beautiful cuts with a dozuki. (Reminds me of when I cut a dead 4" thick tree with the big boy pull saw.... It took five minutes, but I did it with one hand while smoking a cigarette with the other and not breaking a sweat, lol).

The cutting angle I used for the sheet is so flat, I just held the sheet over the edge of a cutting board to keep from sawing into my bench. You could do this anywhere, in case you don't have a good bench corner/edge for your handed-ness.


CatalinaWOW:
I would definitely score and snap it.  Fast.  Easy.  Clean edge.  No fumes.  No fouled up tools if you go to fast and melt the plastic.  2mm is getting towards the thicknesses where I have difficulty with the scoring and snapping technique, but is on the right side of that border.  Some folks are successful up to 6 mm or more.

Fludo:

--- Quote from: cdev on November 08, 2018, 04:04:37 pm ---How do you get straight cuts? I have never been so good with a hand hacksaw as far as it looking good cosmetically. On wood, etc, my cuts always wander a bit.

--- End quote ---

A hacksaw is thin and fine toothed for cutting hard metals like bolts and steel.  For a straighter cut you will need a wider blade and less teeth per inch.  Try one of the all purpose back saws/panel saws from the hardware store.

6PTsocket:

--- Quote from: CatalinaWOW on November 09, 2018, 04:11:24 am ---I would definitely score and snap it.  Fast.  Easy.  Clean edge.  No fumes.  No fouled up tools if you go to fast and melt the plastic.  2mm is getting towards the thicknesses where I have difficulty with the scoring and snapping technique, but is on the right side of that border.  Some folks are successful up to 6 mm or more.

--- End quote ---
2 mm is about the .08" thickness of the lucite/plexiglass/acrylic sheets that I regularly cut up for picture frame "glass". No trouble with a scoring knife at all. You can also flip clear plastic over and score both sides and it will almost complete the cut.

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Buriedcode:
Whilst many recommend hack saws, I would go with a razor saw with 32tpi.  Much thinner, and whilst it has no real advantage for thicker (>3mm) plastic, it makes quick work of thinner stuff - and it leaves very smooth clean cuts.  I clamped the piece down with a metal ruler along the cutting line as a guide - each back stroke cuts about 8mm on 2mm acrylic. 

For stuff that thin you could easily just score both sides and snap.  The edge won't be very nice but a few passes with a decent file and you'll be golden.  The edge finish is fine if you're using acrylic cement, but if you have exposed edges, flame polishing works wonders - plus its quick.

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