Acrylic - Application Tip: Fabricating Acrylic

Application Tip:Fabricating AcrylicBy: Regional Supply

There are many factors that affect the lookand versatility of your acrylic products.

• Care and Cleaning• Cutting & Scrubbing• Drilling• Finishing

The most important step in acrylicfabrication is cleaning.

• Always use a mild soap or a commercially available plasticcleaner like Novus or Brillianize.• Use a lint free cloth and be very careful not to scrub tooaggressively.• Avoid cleaners that contain ammonia or alcohol.

Acrylic can be cut in a variety of ways

Acrylic sheets up to 1/4 inch thick can be scribe cut. Scorerepeatedly along a straight edge with a plastic cutting tool. Score1/3 of the way through the sheet. Align the score with the edgeof a table and apply gentle pressure to break the sheet along thescore.Acrylic can be cut with a variety of saw equipment. Bladeselection is critical with regards to edge !nish. Table and panelsaws are the best option for high volume straight cuts. A 10-inchcarbide tipped blade with triple chip 80 teeth pin isrecommended.

To know the correct cutting speed,use the following table:

6 inch blade - - - - - 6400 RPM8 inch blade - - - - - 5000 RPM10 inch blade - - - - 4000 RPM12 inch blade - - - - 3000 RPM14 inch blade - - - - 2800 RPM16 inch blade - - - - 2400 RPM

Blade selection is critical. A !ne tooth blade is a must.Acrylic can also be routed, laser cut and machined.

ACRYLIC DRILLING IS BESTPERFORMED ON A DRILL PRESSUSING A 60 DEGREE BIT.

To know the correct speed based onbit diameter, use the following chart:

1/8 Drill Bit - - - - - 3500 RPM3/16 Drill Bit - - - - 2500 RPM1/4 Drill Bit - - - - - 1800 RPM3/8 Drill Bit - - - - - 1200 RPM1/2 Drill Bit - - - - - 900 RPM5/8 Drill Bit - - - - - 700 RPM

To finish the acrylic fabrication process, there area number of things that can be done.

• To improve the edges, scrape, sand, buff or #ame polish.• Acrylic can also be cemented or glued together quiteeasily. There are a number of different acrylic gluesavailable for this. Some are thin like water, others arethicker. Some adhesive is a two-part product like an epoxy.• Acrylic can easily be painted, screen printed, and respondswell to vinyl application. It can also be thermoformed, linebent and cold formed.

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