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Cutting acrylic plastic for case? Would a dremel or drill+milling table work?
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Brumby:
My observations:

 - Straight cuts with hand tools require skill.  Anything longer than 2cm or so and I know I'm not going to be happy with my results.  I just don't do enough to warrant purchase of specialised tools or to get the experience.  I like jigs or mechanised solutions.
 - Anything that grinds or abrades has to have the speed kept right down - otherwise (as others have said) the plastic will melt and you will end up gluing the material to the tool.  That gets very frustrating very quickly.
 - Cutting tools are by far the best - but you need to:
    * have sharp cutting edges
    * support of the material as close to the cutting zone as possible
    * take small bites
 - Score and snap can work well for full length cuts (no good for internal corners) - but practice first so you know how well you need to score for consistent results.  If you don't score properly, you might find yourself with a cut that is fine for part of the cut and then wanders off line.  Murphy's Law will ensure such wanderings will run into the target piece, not into the waste which you could sand off.  Even then, sanding off can leave a different finish to the edge that can sometimes be irritatingly obvious.

I'm looking at building my own laser cutter which could take care of this.  (I know you can buy them - but for the work area I need, they are prohibitively expensive.  Plus I don't require that much engineering.)
not1xor1:
I use a Bosch PKS 16 multi for wood, aluminium, and various kind of polymer sheets.
https://www.bosch-do-it.com/gb/en/diy/tools/pks-16-multi-3165140651240-199896.jsp
You just need an aluminium bar guide for straight cuts.
It does allow you to get straight and reasonably polished edges.
tooki:

--- Quote from: cdev on November 08, 2018, 06:51:08 pm ---Proxonn is insanely expensive and some of their tools bear a superficial resemblance I think, perhaps to Liyang, a Chinese brand. They make little saws like that.

They appear to be a huge company - at least from the variety of stuff they make they seem to be so.

--- End quote ---
Proxxon is only insanely expensive in North America (or perhaps outside of Europe in general). Within Europe, it's actually eminently affordable, being even cheaper than imported brands like Dremel.

If anyone is copying anyone, then it's the Chinese copying the Germans/Luxembourgers. Proxxon has been around since 1977.
Rick Law:

--- Quote from: 6PTsocket on November 08, 2018, 09:08:35 pm ---I don't saw or mill it at all. They sell plastic scoring knives for a few bucks. Any craft or big box store should have one. I think mine is Olfa, a good Japanese company. Just take a straight edge and make severeral deep scores and it will snap off clean as a whistle; at least as clean or cleaner than a saw blade. No melting, no plastic dust, no waste. If the edge is going to show, you can sand and polish it but you have to do that no matter how you cut it. When you snap it, do it over a square edge, right under the score line. I cut acrylic for framed pictures with no problem

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

--- End quote ---

At Home Depot, they sell plexi-glass, and they sell plexi-glass acrylic cutting knife similar to the picture 6PTsocket posted above.

Some years back, I had a project using plexi-glass.  I use one of those to cutting quite a number of 1/8" thick plexi-glass sheets.  Worked very well - I cut quite a number of them (making many smaller and smaller sheets out of 4 big ones).  Much better than saw which tends to create cracks.  You just need to make sure your first cut (initial groove) is nice and straight, then you can work it deeper and it snaps nice and clean.

I understand that plexi-glass while in the same family as acrylic but is different.  I think they share enough similarity in property that what works well for plexi-glass should be worth a try.
Old Printer:
I work at an architectural sign company in production. We use a lot of acrylic, plastics of all sorts. I have the luxury of a couple co2 lasers, but a few circular saws as well. The saws are all running fine tooth carbide speciality blades and are the go-to method for straight line cuts because of speed. The type of acrylic is very important, cast being the best for cutting of any method. Extruded being the worst, as it is "gummy" and tends to melt rather than cut. Visually they are tough to identify, being pretty much identical until hit with a blade or beam. Dremel used to make a small, affordable table saw with a 4" diameter blade, and are sometimes seen on places like craigslist. Equipped with a fine tooth carbide blade the cut up to 1/8" think acrylic very well. If you can create a vector file of what you need, a local sign shop with a small laser might be willing to cut it for you at a decent price. Lasers are also popular in awards shops as well, or local maker groups.
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