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Working with Acrylic, a few questions...

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Darryl_D

Member
Joined
Apr 25, 2002
Hey guys, i'm currently working on designing something (can't show you yet :p ). My question is this... how easy is it to work with acrylic? Would a dremel be good enough to cut it up with? Also, is there any way to i dunno curve acrylic? what i mean is this...
Image001.jpg



how did he curve the portion of acrylic that's connectio nthe two peices of acrylic that has the half life symbol on them?
 
Darryl_D said:
1. how easy is it to work with acrylic?
2. Would a dremel be good enough to cut it up with?
3. Also, is there any way to i dunno curve acrylic?

1. It's a little fussy about what kind of tools you use since it has a lower melting temperature and isn't receptive to friction. You'll want to use blades that can shave instead of bite. The best tool for cutting it is a band saw, but a table saw comes in a close second. For small cuts a jigsaw with a scroll cut blade is best. When drilling it you'll need to use shallow angle bits, plastic specific and some carbide bits will work.
2. DEFINITELY NOT. In fact most rotary tools are out because they use abrasion to cut.
3. It's called heat-warping and there are several ways of doing it. For straight bends you can build and electric line heater table which is basically a table with a line of heating strip down the center. Or you can use a heat gun and clamps. Or you can use an old oven and a form to press the sheet over. All of these have to be done in open or highly ventilated air with leather gloves.
Another option that's easier for implementing for complex shapes is a vacuuforming table. These are fairly easy to build with or without a heating element included and would allow you to simply melt the sheet over a mould form place on the table. The two halves could then be trimmed and solvent-bonded together.

Acrylic can be a fussy material to work with. Make sure you get ACTUAL acrylic and not some crappy Acrylite or Optix sheets. those are impossible to machine. Polycarbonate on the otherhand is a joy to work with. It is not however easy to heatwarp since it becomes pliable in a narrower and higher temperature range.
 
crap! say does anyone know of any other material i could use to rebuild part of a case with???
 
Aluminum is a joy to work with when rebuilding cases. It is reasonably easy to cut nicely and is easy to attach using rivets. It also can be brushed and polished for a very nice shine.

The biggest downsides about aluminum is it is a pain to cut or weld with a torch, and thin aluminum will sometimes tear instead of cut if you aren't careful.
 
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