A circular saw is another one of the most famous, versatile and efficient wood working tool.
The large exposed mounted blade thrusts deep into the cutting material to attain mesmerizing cutting results.
Today, we are going to discuss how to cut plexiglass with a circular saw.
A circular saw is useful in many ways, it easily cuts through even the toughest materials and lets you alter the shape and size of the cut too.
Similarly, a plexiglass is also a material with several uses. A plexiglass is astonishingly handy material for multiple home crafts.
It is also comparatively easier to cut through it and mold it yourself. Plexiglass is also commonly known as acrylic which is a substitution of glass and is shatter proof.
It serves as a cost effective material without burdening your budget. This material is quite light weight thus becoming the number one choice of most of the DIY workers.
The material is much cheaper and you would find it used everywhere especially on daily basis, such as home decorations, TV screens and kitchen counters etc.
This material may not be as fine as the original glass but it can still improve the overall appearance of the certain object.
When it comes to using the right tool for cutting the plexiglass, a circular saw is preferred.
A right circular saw fitted with the right blade can easily go through this material without excessive efforts.
However, there are still few considerations that you must make in order to reduce the chances of injuries and attain optimal results.
We have provided you with the important information regarding plexiglass including important tips on how to cut a plexiglass with a circular saw. Make sure to go through it:
What Is Plexiglass?
Plexiglass is a material that is hard, tough and clear. It is made up of polymers of methyl methacrylate eventually making it plastic. It is also commonly known as acrylic.
The reason why this material is commonly used instead of glass is its transparency, which is an important characteristic of this material, allowing it to appear as a real glass.
This material is impressively light weight and flexible, so it can be used for many purposes without breaking. It is high weather resistance, bearing all possible weather conditions.
Also, it is more impact resistance too, even if it breaks, it will not shatter into many pieces. All these factors make it suitable for outdoor uses.
However, plexiglass is highly prone to scratches and can easily accumulate dust on it. Therefore, it is advisable not to use it for purposes where it is subjected to mechanical wear.
Lastly, with time plexiglass changes its color and turns yellow which is very unlike glass.
What To Use In Cutting Plexiglass
As far as the cutting of plexiglass is concerned, there are several cutting tools that you can easily work with. However, with the intent of helping you, we prefer using a circular saw.
The reason behind this is that, a circular saw features a sharp and tough blade that is ideal for précised angular cutting along with straight cuts.
However, even if you use the best possible saw and the top most quality blade, there are chances that your plexiglass might gain few scratches and damages.
So, in order to prevent damaging of the material and keeping the appearance and quality of material remarkable, you must have to cover and coat the plexiglass with a plastic film.
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The Cutting Process
Apart from using a circular saw for cutting plexiglass, there are several other tools that you should have to make the process go smoothly without any mishap and accident.
However, the good part about cutting a plexiglass with a circular saw is that the material is not much demanding.
It is not necessary to have a saw that features a huge power and great number of rotations per minute to cut through the plexiglass.
Some other tools that you should have are: clamp to fix, work bench, safety gear, a plastic film, marker for drawing the cut line, safety goggles and gloves.
As soon as you have gathered all the required tools and material, now it is the time to start the cutting process.
Start by fixing the plexiglass sheet to the work bench. After that you need to draw a cutting line that is précised and accurate.
Now, secure it with the plastic film or any other adhesive tape. This will make sure that the cutting process goes smoothly throughout without any loose material.
A pro tip to prevent the plexiglass from overheating is to use a coolant spray.
The coolant spray is also necessary to use because plexiglass is not much temperature resistant and high temperature can damage the material.
After the plexiglass is completely ready to be cut, turn on the circular saw. Wait until the circular saw reaches the speed of 3500rpm and the blade is at its full swing.
Now start the process of cutting by steadily and firmly pushing the circular saw against the plexiglass sheet.
Gradually keep feeding the material into the blade and in no time you will attain an optimal result.
However, with regard to what blade one must use in order to cut a plexiglass, we recommend you to use a blade that has a minimum of 80 teeth or more for refine and thin précised cuts.
How T0 Cut Plexiglass With A Circular Saw Step-By-Step
Coming to the main topic of our guide, we will discuss the process of cutting plexiglass with a circular saw. It is considered the best tool to create straight cuts.
When using power tool to cut plexiglass, you must always maintain slow speed because fast speed can create excessive friction between the blade and the material that produces heat resulting in melting of the material.
Required Tools
- Plexiglass sheet
- Clamps to fix the sheet
- Adhesive tape
- Safety gear
- A straight piece of wood
- Circular saw
Method
- Start by wearing your safety gears that include safety goggles, hearing protection and a face shield. Safety goggles and face shield is used to prevent small pieces from getting into your eyes or hitting your face. Hearing protection will protect your ears from hideous noise as your ears might not be prone to hear such high disturbing noises.
- Place your completely clean sheet of plexiglass on the top of the work bench and fix it with the help of clamps. This will keep the plexiglass sheet firm in place and stable.
- Now with the help of marker, you can use any color, draw the path that you intend to cut on both sides of the protective film. You can use a ruler to draw these lined paths for more précised cutting line.
- Now you can leave the part of the sheet that has to be cut freely hanging.
- Now carefully stick the adhesive tape on the cutting line to reduce the chances of splinters flying everywhere in the work area. However, this step is optional and not necessary, depending on personal preference.
- If you intend to perform straight cuts on the plexiglass sheet, you can place the straight piece of wood on the top of the cutting line. This straight piece of wood will act as a guide that will allow you to create straight cuts. Later on, you can use the clamps to position is firmly.
- Plexiglass is highly prone to scratches and is vulnerable to dust as well. This is why you must leave the protective film on the plexiglass sheet. It protects it from extra scratches. However, you can peel off and remove the protective film once you finish the cutting task.
- To avoid excessive heat affect and to prevent the sheet from melting, you must use a coolant spray on the blade. This will reduce friction while you cut thick sheets.
- Let the circular saw reach its maximum speed. As soon as the saw blade reaches 3500 rpm push the saw towards the material with slow and smooth motion.
- It is crucial to understand the importance of feeding rate. You must feed the material into the blade slowly and with patience, as too much pressure can produce cracks and excessive friction. This will result into chipped edges, melting of the sheets and damage to the sheets.
What Is The Best Way To Cut Plexiglass?
Aside from cutting plexiglass with a circular saw, there are many other tools and techniques too to help you cut plexiglass for various applications.
These techniques are very easy and consume less time. However, you must be aware with the right precautions and must have proper practice.
The plexiglass is legitimately the easiest material to cut. However, the basic need to complete this task is to have a firm surface that does not wobble and easily support the material.
Also, a ruler will help you take the right précised measurements. The other method to cut plexiglass apart from circular saw is called scoring and snapping.
If you usually work for small projects and DIYs that involves cutting of plexiglass then, this method is no doubt ideal.
By this method, you can mold, cut and fold the plexiglass sheets in to different shapes and sizes.
However, the only drawback of this method is that, it is not applicable to thick sheets of plexiglass.
It only works for very thin to medium thin sheets of Plexiglass. If you intend to cut plexiglass into various shapes, you can also use a jigsaw.
By the help of a jigsaw and with the up and down gradual motion, you can cut the sheets into many shapes such as curves, circulars, irregular shapes and other professional or DIY projects.
Lastly, for ultimate accurate and précised cuts, the number one choice is to use circular saw.
The process of cutting through it is much faster and the teeth of the blade can also cut through thickest plexiglass sheets.
Final Verdict
Plexiglass is one of the most widely used and incredibly versatile tools with numerous applications.
Similarly, there are many ways that you can follow in order to cut plexiglass sheets. All of these methods are discussed above in the article.
However, the most common, trustworthy and accurate way to cut plexiglass is with a circular saw.
All you need is a high quality blade with 80 or above teeth. Although, no matter what power tool you prefer to use while cutting this material.
Make sure you avoid generating heat because this thermoplastic material is prone to melt in excessive heat.
Try using coolant spray on the blades to avoid production of friction.
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