Best way to cut plexiglass

[dennis thompson]

I have to cut a small piece of plexiglass, about 1" x3" . What is the best way to cut it?
Thanks

[mreza Salav]

Table saw cuts it fine. Use a cross-cut blade and don't go aggressively and not too slowly either.

[Frank Pratt]

Table saw cuts it fine. Use a cross-cut blade and don't go aggressively and not too slowly either.

This. If you go too fast you get chipping or fracturing, too slow & it melts & gunks up everything. This is a pretty small piece to cut on a table saw, so give some thought as to how you're going to do it.

Cutting it on a band saw would be safer, but won't leave nearly as clean a cut.

[Stephen Rosenthal]

For that small of a piece I’d cut it by hand with a coping saw, larger my scroll saw with the proper blade.

[Zachary Hoyt]

Band saw and scroll saw are what I've used, but I've mostly been using it to make templates so I had to cut curves anyway. It also sands well if you need to clean up the edges after making a cut.
Zach

[Günter VögelBerg]

I have successfully cut it on a table saw with a crosscut blade and with a router. If it does not have the factory film on it put tape where it will be cut to reduce chipping.

[mreza Salav]

Use a sled with clamp-on on table saw for such a small piece.

[Roger Feeley]

definitely a zero clearance application. Beware of what the plastic does as you finish the cut. The cut might be supported at the sides by a zero clearance insert but it won't be supported at the end unless you dedicate an insert to this and raise the blade to the proper height through the insert. Then the cut is supported on three sides.

Another consideration is hook angle or attack angle. This is the angle of the tooth as it engages the top of your material. For example, raise the blade as high as it will go and you will see that the blade enters the material at a considerable angle. Lower it and that angle starts to approach parallel with the work. Some materials even need a negative angle which is why some old timers will tell you to mount your blade backwards when cutting fiberglass roofing sheets with a skil saw. I've never done that but I have messed around with hook angle to get the smoothest cut.

Here's a link to a Freud blade (https://www.amazon.com/Freud-80T-Plastic-Blade-LU94M010/dp/B00004T7AL) designed for plastic. They are recommending a -3 degree hook angle.

[Dan Gaylin]

Sure a table saw would work but would not be the easiest. I have had good luck with a good jig saw and the proper blade (Bosch makes blades for plexiglass). Band saw with high tpi also works well.

[Tom M King]

Back before everyone used carbide tipped blades, there was a Plexiglass cutting blade. It was hollow ground, and the little teeth were backwards. It worked fine. I probably still have one buried in a drawer somewhere, but it's been decades since I even thought about it.

[Doug Garson]

Whether you use a band saw or table saw you need to ensure you move the workpiece thru the cut at an adequate speed. Too slow and the plastic heats up and melts sticking to the blade or the material removed sticks to the table insert or blade guides. Makes a mess of the cut and is a pain to clean up the saw.

[Bradley Gray]

In addition to all of these totally workable methods, plexiglass can be scored (there's a special scraper) and snapped similar to glass cutting.

[Andrew Seemann]

Acrylic (plexiglas) wants a neutral rake angle. Basically the acrylic is "cut" in a scraping motion by a blade that is completely perpendicular to the work or maybe even a few degrees negative. Positive rake cutting edges tend to cause fractures, cracks, and chips in the acrylic rather than shearing it.

Most woodworking blades have a positive rake angle. An aggressive rip blade or a hook tooth bandsaw blade will cut the worst, and maybe even crack or shatter the plex. Table saw blades with minimal rake angle & small teeth and "regular" toothed bandsaw blades with smaller teeth will work the best.

Having worked acrylic for many years in my youth, if I needed to cut a single 1 x 3 inch piece of acrylic, I would do it on a bandsaw with a regular toothed blade, slightly oversized, and clean up the edges on a belt sander. The problem with cutting a piece that small on a table saw is that you would need to make a sled to clamp it in. I wouldn't recommend cutting a thin piece of acrylic against the rip fence, if you don't have the feed rate right, it could heat up, expand into the blade, and kick back at you something powerful (or worse, shatter and come back at you in shards). In the shop I worked in, we had a proper acrylic cutting blade for the Unisaw, but we tended to use the bandsaw whenever possible, rather than the table saw. Most of our cuts were to rough size, and the pieces were finished on a mill or lathe.

[dennis thompson]

Thanks for the advice. The piece I need to cut will be a windshield for a model of a 1914 Rolls Royce I'm making. I bought a piece of plexiglass that is 8" x10" so I have room for some mistakes . I think I'll try it on both my scrollsaw and my bandsaw.

[mreza Salav]

I think some are making it sound more complex than it is. I have made many things (mostly car gadgets) using plexiglass and used table saw/router without any issues.

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[John K Jordan]

I have to cut a small piece of plexiglass, about 1" x3" . What is the best way to cut it?
Thanks

I cut it on the bandsaw. Cuts cleanly with the proper speed, not chips or cracks. My uses are almost always functional rather than pretty but I file or sand the edges if I need them smooth.

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This goes around the lower guides as part of my under-table dust collection for the bandsaw.

JKJ

[Mark Daily]

In addition to all of these totally workable methods, plexiglass can be scored (there's a special scraper) and snapped similar to glass cutting.
I’ve done this before and used a box cutter to score it. Worked fine and would be my first choice for such a small piece.

[Robert D Evans]

Plexiglass cuts much like wood. I've used the bandsaw or table saw to cut it out and the router table to round the edge. instead of sandpaper, I used a propane torch to lightly heat the edges. It make the edges glossy smooth like the face. Don't overdue the heat.

[Keith Westfall]

I made a display case one time and cut a pattern the size I needed out of MDF. Rough cut the plexie a tad bigger, stuck it on the pattern with some tape and CA glue, and then ran that on a pattern bit on my router. Really smooth finish, and no chipping.