Can You Cut Your Own Acrylic?

Our Guide Cutting Acrylic or Perspex

We recommend using our cutting service if you need your acrylic or perspex cut to size or holes drilled, however, it is possible to do this at home using traditional tools such as table saws, circular saws, and drills.

The following is general guide to cutting perspex and will cover the basics, but is by no means a comprehensive guide.

You can also use other tools and methods not covered in this guide, such as a hand saw, jig-saw, router, laser or the more traditional ‘score and snap’ method. As a general rule when cutting acrylic, it’s critical that you keep vibration to a minimum as this can cause cracking or chipping in the panel.

The key is to ensure the panel is secured to a firm surface such as a workbench, preferably using a soft-jawed clamp or similar to prevent damaged to the material.

Your best bet is to practice any cutting or fabrication on an offcut, or spare piece, first.

Please note that the protective film should not be removed until after cutting or drilling.

Here are some tools or equipment you may need:

• Saw
• Drill (if drilling holes)
• Sharp toothed saw blade, carbide tipped (triple-chip is ideal)
• Soft jawed clamps or alternative (such as a soft cloth), to secure material
• Personal protective equipment – such as eye and ear protection, dust mask etc.
• Dust extraction, such as a vacuum
• Water spray bottle, or other water source for cooling
• Scraper for deburring (this can be almost any piece of metal with a sharp, flat edge)

Tips For Cutting

• Ensure all tools or machines being used are well maintained, with all safety features working and in place
• Always wear appropriate safety equipment such as safety glasses & ear protection
• Adjust the saw blade clearance/height to suit the material thickness (blade should extend approx. 3-10mm beyond material thickness)
• Ensure adequate support under the panel being cut, to prevent vibration which may cause cracking or chipping. This is especially critical for thinner panels
• A solid method for holding down the panel during cutting is critical. This will aid in reducing vibration and producing a more accurate and clean cut. Ideally clamping pressure should be applied across the panel, not just at a single point
• Take care to ensure the blade is aligned and square prior to cutting
• Use a dedicated blade for cutting acrylic. A blade used for cutting other materials will have been dulled and lead to poor cutting performance
• Common blade diameters and tooth selections used for cutting acrylic sheet include:
  • 250mm diameter, 60 and 80 tooth
  • 300mm diameter, 60, 80, and 100 tooth
  • 350mm diameter 60, 80, and 100 tooth
• Use water or compressed air as a coolant when cutting sheets over 6mm thick
• When marking out and clamping, always remember to allow for the width of the saw blade

Cutting Steps

• Check the tool manufacturers guidelines to ensure safety precautions are in place
• Adjust the saw blade clearance/height to suit the material thickness
• Firmly clamp down the panel to be cut
• Start the saw, making sure it is running at speed before starting to cut
• Feed material into the saw at an even rate of between 50 and 120mm per second. Uneven feed rates can cause melting or chipping. Ensure hands are always kept well clear of blade.
• Ensure work area is cleared of dust and swarf between cuts, only cleaning tools when not running and with the power source disconnected
• After cutting, edges can be smoothed and deburred with a scraper

Troubleshooting Common Cutting Issues

• Vibration in the panel: ensure it’s well clamped across the panel and supported underneath
• Chipping at the top of the cut: reduce or increase saw blade clearance, this should be approx. 3mm beyond the panel thickness
• Chipping: check saw blade is sharp, correct type and adjusted correctly
• Melting: Try the following;
  • Adjust the blade clearance
  • Increase the feed rate
  • Check that the blade is sharp and if needed, replace it
  • Check that fence or guide is correctly aligned, if not, it can cause the material to grab

Tips For Drilling

• Ensure any tools being using for drilling are well maintained and all safety features are working and in place
• Always wear appropriate safety equipment such as safety glasses & ear protection
• A drill press or drill stand is preferred, but hand drills can also be used
• Standard drill bits are often designed to aggressively cut, these bits will chip and cause other damage to the plastic. Ideally one made for acrylic should be used, or a drill bit that is ground to the correct angle to scrape rather than cut (to reduce cracking and chipping)
• Suitable drill types:
  • Conventional twist drills with a point angle of 60 to 90 degrees, a rake angle of 0 to 4 degrees and a flat cutting edge
  • Countersinks designed for de-burring
  • Stepped drills
• If the drill is correctly sharpened and operated at proper speed, two continuous spiral chips or ribbons will emerge from the hole as you drill
• Use water or compressed air as a coolant when drilling sheets over 4.5mm thick
• When drilling deep holes, lift drill several times (preferable after each mm)
• Use timber or MDF underneath the panel when drilling, as this can reduce the chances of chipping when exiting the panel
• Holes which are to be used for screws or bolts should be countersunk. Zero flute countersinks work well for the countersinking and deburring acrylic.
• When drilling holes which will be used to support the panel by a fastening (bolt, screw etc), the hole diameter should be at least 2 times the diameter of the fastener to allow for expansion.
• The distance from any hole centre to the edge of the sheet should be at least 1.5 times the diameter of the drilled hole.

Drilling Steps

• Clamp material securely, including a piece of timber under the hole location
• Position the drill carefully when you start drilling, reduce feed rate to start
• Monitor the shape of chips generated from drilling. If chips are crumbly and uneven, the feed rate is too high or the RPM is too low. If chips are molten, the feed rate is too low or the RPM is too high.
• Reduce feed rate just before the drill exits the bottom surface

Troubleshooting Common Drilling Issues

• Chipping: reduce feed rate, ensure drill bit angles are correct, ensure material being drilled is securely held down
• Melting: increase feed rate, reduce drill RPM, pause drilling and clean chips out of the hole, use/increase cooling

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