cutting 1/4" acrylic and steel

[zip22]

i got all my water cooling stuff in my computer and all i need to do is put a large rectangular hole in the front. it is an AMS Gmono and i am going to cut out a large rectangle in the lower half and replace it with a black screen. it is some thick acrlic and then a steel plate. how can i cut this?? i have access to a dremel. with the cutting wheels will i be able to make it through the acrylic safely(no cracks)??



if it will be hard with the dremel, does anyone know how i can find a shop that will cut it for me (laser cutting i think)? i checked the phone book but didn't really know what to look for.

 

[johnny5c]

You should have no problem cutting it with your dremel. For the steel, just cut slow and let the cutting disk do the work. It is easier if you make a bunch of light passes instead of trying to cut all the way through on the frist pass. For the acrylic, tape off the area frist to prevent scraches and chipping. If your dremel has speed settings, use low speed so the acrylic won't melt as much when your cutting it.

 

[pummer]

yes, make sure you DO NOT press too hard on the acrylic and you shouldn't have a problem. let the dremel do the work. use the fiberglass-reinforced disks if you have them.

 

[zip22]

thanks for the help. yesterday i tried to start making the hole in the steel panel by first drilling holes in the corners and then connecting them using a hacksaw. the hacksaw, however didn't give me enough room and i could only cut like 2". also, the drill bits i used really didn't work well. they left a lot of big burrs that weren't very friendly to my fingers. i hope i can clean up the mess that i already made with the dremel.