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Organic glass is a very popular material these days from which a large number of products and goods: from furniture to souvenirs.

Distinctive characteristics of plexiglass. The high demand for plexiglass was mainly influenced by the set of unique characteristics that this synthetic source has. Imagine that you managed to create a reliable, strong, durable, resistant, inexpensive material that looks like fragile glass.

After all, each of us once had a favorite glass product that broke, but it could have remained unharmed if plexiglass had been used as the basis for its production. This article will tell you how to cut organic glass at home. This is very important information, because you don’t know when you will have to work with this material yourself.

Tools for cutting plexiglass at home

How to cut plexiglass at home, as well as bend it, is not very difficult, but you should remember a few rules that will not only show you how to behave correctly with a sheet of plexiglass, but will significantly speed up the task and choose the right tool.

At home, plexiglass can be cut using the following tools:

• hand saw for metal;
• a circular saw;
• cutter;
• milling machine;
• an ordinary stationery knife (provided that the thickness of the plexiglass sheet is no more than 2 mm).

Plexiglas is a material characterized by low electrical conductivity. In other words, when cutting with any of the above tools, there is a danger of getting burned, because it heats up very quickly. At home, it is recommended to work with thin sheets, which can be cut in the shortest possible time.

Just in case, for instant cooling, stock up cold water, especially if you use a circular saw or milling machine. Place a sheet of plexiglass on the work table, use a steel ruler to find the place you will cut, and draw the tool along the ruler. When you need to cut shaped holes from a sheet, you can use nichrome thread.

Remember that after cutting plexiglass at home, the edges at the joints become very sharp. Therefore, after completing the cutting procedure, it is necessary to sand and polish the sheet.

Cutting plexiglass in everyday life is required extremely rarely, and this work is carried out by some craftsmen in specialized stores and workshops. But sometimes this useful skill may be required at home: when making, for example, an aquarium, a vase, a lamp, partitions, shelves, or decorative accessories with your own hands.

Plexiglas combines the performance characteristics of plastic and appearance(transparency) glass. Unlike glass, this material does not break, which makes it extremely popular for solving specific problems. Strength opens up areas of application in which conventional glass is problematic and dangerous to use. This material is also called acrylex, acrylite or plexiglass. These are not varieties of the product, but trade marks manufacturers.

Plexiglas can be processed using almost all available methods: planing, sawing, turning and laser cutting. Both large containers () and elegant small objects are made from this material.

Production methods for cutting plexiglass

1. Laser cutting is the most convenient method, but impossible at home. The laser beam ensures maximum cutting accuracy, smooth cuts and a small amount of waste. There is a limitation to this processing method: the laser creates high voltage material, so further processing is not possible.

Many companies offer this service, and if you choose this method, prepare a drawing of the product in advance and choose a competent craftsman. Often in such workshops you can independently select the material of the desired thickness before cutting the plexiglass.

2. B production conditions(sometimes in everyday life) a circular and band saw is used. The first tool is designed for a straight cut with a clean cut. A band saw is more suitable for cutting workpieces, since this tool does not provide even and smooth lines. To get a smooth surface, you need to use a cutter.

3. To obtain a high-quality and even cut, high-speed tools are used with a rotation speed of the working part of up to 4000 rpm. Plexiglas can be machined, but do not forget about the low thermal conductivity of this material, which is why the cutting zones quickly heat up. For this reason, processing is carried out with high speed rotation.

1. A hacksaw is the most affordable tool for cutting plexiglass at home. The resulting cut will be rough and rough, so you will need a file or needle file (sandpaper) to polish it. Also, upon completion of cutting, you can, this process will give the part its final appearance.

2. You can also use a cutter, which is essentially a saw with one tooth. Before cutting plexiglass with a cutter, prepare a metal ruler of the required length. The ruler is placed on a sheet of plexiglass along the line of the intended cut and drawn several times along the plexiglass with the tool.

When the sheet is cut halfway through its thickness, you need to carefully break it and then smooth out the rough edges with a file or a jointer. A suitable cutter is a cutter knife, which is sold in any hardware store or made independently from a piece of hacksaw blade. Some craftsmen use regular sharpened glass for cutting, while reliably protecting their hands from accidental injuries.

3. To cut plexiglass at home, use a circular saw or a cutter for metal up to 1 mm thick. During operation, the cutter operates very quickly, cutting occurs with the release of smoke, and the plexiglass in the cutting area sometimes foams from high temperature arising due to friction.

To avoid this, it is necessary to constantly cool the working surface of the saw. To do this, you can take a bottle of water, fix it on one side of the cutter and supply water to it through a plastic hose. With a hose diameter of 2.5 mm, up to 1 liter of water is consumed per hour. With this cooling method, the cut is transparent and smooth.

4. Also for cutting, as for cutting, a nichrome thread is used, which is heated from a connected transformer with a power of up to 24 V. The heated thread cuts plexiglass by melting it. This feature allows you to obtain not only straight, but also shaped cuts.

5. Some craftsmen successfully use other tools at home, sometimes very simple ones, for example, a slotted screwdriver. Press the screwdriver against the plexiglass sheet with its end, holding it by the very edge of the handle. The screwdriver blade is heated by a 25-watt soldering iron.

When the plexiglass begins to melt slightly, draw a straight line of the intended cut with the tip of a screwdriver. To draw a straight line, use a metal ruler, a hacksaw blade (the side without teeth, of course) or another similar tool. After drawing a line with a heated screwdriver, the plexiglass breaks easily and quickly.

What to do if, for example, there is a need to cover the top of a kitchen (wooden) or computer table with this type of glass? We have already described above how to cut straight lines of plexiglass with a cutter; without much difficulty, it also copes well with curved cuts and rounded corners. Experienced craftsmen use the well-known caliper at home for this task.

You can also waste a little time and cut out the curves according to the template using nichrome thread. To do this, simply cut out the shape you need from cardboard, attach/fix it to the glass and cut it little by little.

In order to cut a circle using a cutter, mark the center of the circle where you need to attach a good suction cup. Then, using a strip and self-tapping screws, fix the cutter (attach it to the suction cup on one side, and directly to the other on the other). We cut until there is a notch left, after which we beat off the excess pieces.

Video: HOW TO CUT Plexiglas AT HOME

Cutting plexiglass is unlikely to be useful very often at home; more often glass products are made by craftsmen. But, who knows, maybe Everyday life you will want to make some kind of trinket for your soul with your own hands or you will have to repair a plastic product at home, and you will already know the skill of cutting plexiglass.

Plexiglas is a lightweight, durable material, available in different colors. And how many completely unexpected products come out of it. For example, accessories for the bathroom and kitchen look beautiful in the photo, and at the dacha it would be nice to put up a gazebo made of artificial glass. In a word, there is a use for plexiglass, you just need to learn how to process it correctly and choose the appropriate method for cutting glass from plastic.

The main advantages of plexiglass are

The main advantages of artificial glass are its ease of processing. Polymer glass does not break into small pieces; it can be shaped the required form. You just need to know the basic processing and cutting techniques, and have a special machine and tools available. Only polymer glass combines the external beauty, transparency of glass and the strength and lightness of modern plastic. Sometimes polymer glass can successfully replace glass and plastic. Artificial glass can be processed using several techniques: sawing, planing, turning. Polymer glass will be cut differently at home and on industrial machines, the main thing is not to scratch the glass and so that the material does not become covered with microcracks.

Basic methods of cutting glass from plastic

If you do not plan to cut polymer glass yourself, but are going to make a product out of it, then you can turn to any workshop for help, where, according to your sketches, they will cut you to any size, to any shape. Only you will select the material yourself, and the rest can be consulted with the specialist of the company you contacted.

1. The most popular cutting method in production is laser, which allows you to cut large sheets using a laser beam. The details are accurate, and there are no residues after such processing.

1. In workshops you can find a special machine for cutting plexiglass in the form of a circular or band saw. If a laser is needed for a straight-line cut along a precise cut, then the saw is capable of cutting any of your orders according to the most complex workpiece. True, don’t expect straight and smooth lines from this tool. For perfect surface processing by cutting, a milling cutter is suitable.
2. A milling cutter is a machine for cutting wood, plastic, and acrylics. And with a competent approach and correctly selected speeds, it will ideally cut out any, even complex, plexiglass surface.

Since the plexiglass heats up, the processing is carried out at high speeds.

If you plan to process polymer glass yourself at home, then it is better to watch a video on how to cut plexiglass before work, where the craftsmen will not only tell you about cutting methods, but also clearly demonstrate the use of tools.

Cutting plexiglass at home

1. The main option for home use is cutting polymer glass with a cutter. First, use a ruler to mark all the cutting lines. Then they run along these lines several times with a cutter. There is no need to cut along the thickness of the entire marking; you just need to break the sheet by running the cutter along the line several times. You can make a cutting knife yourself, but it’s easier to buy one at any hardware store.
2. The most in a simple way cutting will be done using a hacksaw. Many people are reluctant to use this method because of the resulting untidy and rough cut that will need to be processed.
3. Suitable for cutting are a circular saw and sections up to 1mm thick. But in this case, it will be necessary to sometimes cool the saw, since the surface may remain rough, and during finishing work may be accompanied by the release of unpleasant smoke. If you use water for cooling during work, the edge of the cut turns out smooth and quite transparent.
4. Just as in the case of bending, we cut the surface of the plexiglass with nichrome thread. We use a transformer to heat the filament, and the action of the wire will cause the glass to melt. In this case, you can cut indirect lines, and even curly cuts.
5. According to the advice of home craftsmen, many devices can be used for cutting glass. For example, a slotted screwdriver in combination with a soldering iron is suitable. The blade of the screwdriver is heated by the soldering iron and the cut line is drawn with the screwdriver. After which the glass breaks without any problems.
6. Furniture made of plexiglass looks very nice in the photo. On your own, you can, for example, cover the surface of any table in the house with figured glass. For these purposes, a special figured cutter is used.

It turns out that polymer glass can be processed with any metalworking tool, the main thing is not just to cut it, but to given size and using the right technology.