Routing acrylic ?

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pre65
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#1 Routing acrylic ?

Post by pre65 »

Has anyone here any experience of routing acrylic materials ?

If not, I'll have to buy a bit and practice.
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#2 Re: Routing acrylic ?

Post by ed »

yep
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pre65
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#3 Re: Routing acrylic ?

Post by pre65 »

ed wrote: Tue Jan 30, 2018 2:10 pmyep
Well done Ed. :)

Any hints or tips ?
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#4 Re: Routing acrylic ?

Post by ed »

cut slow, move fast

you will need to practise to get the right mix..
can't be more helpful than that cos I don't know your machine, what you're cutting and what cutters you're using.....

if you're looking for a good finish then you deffo need to get all the ducks in a line.....
if you get bubbles on the side of the cut I advise you use the chisel, bevel down, to remove them.

enough...google is your friend, there may be youtube examples

laser is best
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#5 Re: Routing acrylic ?

Post by Ant »

Yep, its all about speeds and feeds. It can be a pain in the arse.
I suggest getting a stack of offcuts to practice on first. Too slow it chips too fast it melts
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#6 Re: Routing acrylic ?

Post by IslandPink »

The 20mm I used on the OB's was a mixed bag as far as results with a Black & Decker router. I tried cutting a circle in the early days with a 6mm bit and reduced cutting speed ( just over half max ) and it did a rough job but the cut was fusing back together in places after the bit - not a nice result overall. On the other hand putting a 10mm quarter-round finish on an existing straight edge with a rounding bit ( roller guide ) was very nice, could have been buffed up to a polish without much work.
On the next set of OB's I got the main cuts and speaker cut-outs done by the acrylic supplier for a very moderate cost.
I suppose things would get easier as you go down in thickness.
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