OT cutting Lexan or Plexiglass

Re: OT cutting Lexan or Plexiglass

Yes. � Don’t peel off the protective sheet — cut right through it. � If the sheet is already gone, before cutting, run a strip of masking tape where the kerf will be, both sides, to reduce chipping and scratches.. � (If any; I never had an issue.)

Re: OT cutting Lexan or Plexiglass

Depends on how sharp your saw blade is. Acrylic is brittle, polycarbonate is soft. So soft it can absorb a bullet, or you can pull a curl with a hand plane. An O flute router bit will make a cleaner cut than a saw blade on both materials.

Re: OT cutting Lexan or Plexiglass

Make sure your blade is sharp, and clean with NO pitch on the side of the teeth, then speed is most important. Feeding too slowly will melt, but too fast may chip. Polycarbonate is really prone to kickback if you feed to slowly with a dull blade. This is counterintuitive to the novice that due to fear of  impending doom slows when they should speed up. 

It is safer to jigsaw, then straighten on the jointer or router, but even here, don’t run the jigsaw too fast, and or feed too slowly. Unlike wood where, if you are not making chips, you’d be making dust or smoke. With polycarbonate, if you’re not making large enough chips to take the heat away with the chip, it’s melting and welding to the blade. 

Re: OT cutting Lexan or Plexiglass

Be sure to use a push pad to hold the material tight against the table as you cut.  Thin material may chatter which can cause chipping or cracking.

Re: OT cutting Lexan or Plexiglass

Thank you all.

Re: OT cutting Lexan or Plexiglass