Cutting polycarbonate sheeting (3mm thick)

[ENGINR]

I've done it before with a jig-saw and a metal cutting blade, but am wanting to see if anybody else out there has experience cutting polycarbonate sheeting and what tips 'n' tricks they might be able to share.

I am not a big fan of the jig-saw and was considering giving the angle grinder a try with a 1.0mm cutting disk....

 

[Ian91]

Take it somewhere with a cnc machine?

 

[Benzo4gT]

A couple of layers of masking tape on each side of the cut and adjust the pendulum action to 0 or 1 if it's a jigsaw that has it.

A grinder and 1mm wheel will work but there is not as much control and I find the edges need more attention because the heat melts the poly and it gets a few lumps stick on them. A grinder is no good for curves compared to a jigsaw.

 

[rory]

I once worked at a sign writer shop making big light boxes, for acrylic and polycarb we used a big bench saw with an acrylic blade installed. (They had alternating tooth angles)

I reckon a circular saw with an aluminium or steel blade would work ok though.
Anything with large course teeth will chip or crack it.

We also always left the sheet of protective paper stuff on.

Hope that helps somehow.

 

[VIN18M]

As long as the piece isn't huge you could always take it to a kitchen/cabinet workshop and get them to cut the shape on a band-saw for you. I wouldn't think they'd charge a lot and it's something these guys do quite a bit of for reception desk front inserts and display cabinets etc.

 

[4piknup]

Used a bandsaw at school to make a letter opener in poly. Use a hacksaw now if its not much cutting.

 

[BRUSHED]

I used an air saw and a hacksaw to make my intake box, a grinder melts it to easy

 

[BYBY5L]

Yea bro, airsaws what I use also, you can use mine if ya wanna try it,

 

[Cranked]

Jig saw on low rpm otherwise it melts. Tidy it up with a file.

 

[ENGINR]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I've just spoken to one of the Fabrication Managers here in the Design Studio at work and he has said the best thing to cut the polycarb with is a multi-tool. The blades are usually fine enough and the vibrating action doesn't splinter or crack the plastic.

 

[DOUGMO]

grinder with 1mm disk for all of mine

 

[Dave_GSR1.8]

Re "...the best thing to cut the polycarb with is a multi-tool. The blades are usually fine enough and the vibrating action doesn't splinter or crack the plastic."

Thats what I ended up using on my front bar when trimming it to fit my front mount, tried a few other things and that turned out to be by far the best; it didn't damage the surrounding plastic with heat etc