Ynot Posted October 18, 2009 Share Posted October 18, 2009 I will be Googling and checking my usual sources shortly, but if anyone has any preferred and reliable suppliers for small quantities of perspex sheeting I'd be grateful for any pointers. It will be for making up the 'window' in a large panto washing machine - so another bonus would be a supplier who would cut a circle to order. Otherwise I need some best tips on making curved cuts out of the material.Straight lines with a sharp Stanly blade have been OK on the odd occasion I've used perspex in the past, just scoring and breaking, but cutting a circle I suspect isn't going to be that simple. So - ideas from those who've done it please... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce Posted October 18, 2009 Share Posted October 18, 2009 Do you really mean Perspex, or would polycarbonate do the job? If polycarbonate, you can get it from places like B&Q - it's used for greenhouse "glass". Straight cuts are easy - score with a stanley a few times, then snap and clean up the edge with a file. Curves are more difficult - tape up both sides with masking tape, then cut gently with a fine-toothed hand saw - maybe one of those saws that use a hacksaw blade in a frameless holder. It sounds like an electric jig-saw with a hacksaw blade would do the job, doesn't it - but it probably won't - the blade is too fast, and the plastic will melt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ynot Posted October 18, 2009 Author Share Posted October 18, 2009 Do you really mean Perspex, or would polycarbonate do the job? well, to be honest, I mean anything that will do the job (and not break the bank!) ;)If polycarbonate, you can get it from places like B&Q - it's used for greenhouse "glass". Yeah - last time I needed some clear plastic whatever for a small 'window' that's where I sourced it, but wasn't overly happy with it - even with a good scoring, I still didn't get a perfect edge...Straight cuts are easy - score with a stanley a few times, then snap and clean up the edge with a file. Curves are more difficult - tape up both sides with masking tape, then cut gently with a fine-toothed hand saw - maybe one of those saws that use a hacksaw blade in a frameless holder. It sounds like an electric jig-saw with a hacksaw blade would do the job, doesn't it - but it probably won't - the blade is too fast, and the plastic will melt. I did indeed try an electric hacksaw once, and yes that's exactly what happened. With the blade running fast it either cracked the plastic or melted it. Running slow enough on a speed controlled saw, it caught too often and cracked it as well...:-(( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benash Posted October 18, 2009 Share Posted October 18, 2009 At my work we do plastics machining for a bunch of different clients. We cut acrylic (perspex) and polycarbonate on a standard woodworking bandsaw all the time. The rule with plastics is generally to go hard and fast so it doesn't overheat. You'll need to watch the buildup of swarf around the blade and stop and clean it out frequently. Once you're done you can clean up the edges with a scalpel, deburring tool or any other suitable woodworking tools you have lying around. To get a really good finish on acrylic you can clean up with (wet) sandpaper. You'll never get a cut edge on polycarbonate to clean up completely regardless of how fine your sandpaper is. You can get PC and acrylic laser-cut up to thicknesses of about 6mm reliably. Above 6mm that and the laser-cutters generally won't guarantee the finish as it will probable melt. If you want a really good finish the best way to go is to find someone with a CNC flat bed router and get them to cut it out. All the material suppliers we have around here will provide plastics cut to order (including circles etc). Some will cut it in-house, some outsource it. Just ask them for exactly what you want and they should be able to do it for you. If it were me I'd go the laser-cutters first, order it cut to shape from a material suppliers second and if that all fails get a square piece, find a friend who has a bandsaw and hack it out yourself. For something on stage I can't imagine needing a perfect finish but if the finish is critical then machining is pretty much the only way to go. HTH Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agermich Posted October 18, 2009 Share Posted October 18, 2009 How small a quantity were you looking to buy? We usually use Amari Plastics who will sell single sheets of polycarb, I think that the sheets that we tend to get are 2000mm x 3000mm but I seem tho recall that they also do 8' x 4' sheets of some thicknesses. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maddison Posted October 19, 2009 Share Posted October 19, 2009 Do you really mean Perspex, or would polycarbonate do the job? well, to be honest, I mean anything that will do the job (and not break the bank!) ;)If polycarbonate, you can get it from places like B&Q - it's used for greenhouse "glass". Yeah - last time I needed some clear plastic whatever for a small 'window' that's where I sourced it, but wasn't overly happy with it - even with a good scoring, I still didn't get a perfect edge...Straight cuts are easy - score with a stanley a few times, then snap and clean up the edge with a file. Curves are more difficult - tape up both sides with masking tape, then cut gently with a fine-toothed hand saw - maybe one of those saws that use a hacksaw blade in a frameless holder. It sounds like an electric jig-saw with a hacksaw blade would do the job, doesn't it - but it probably won't - the blade is too fast, and the plastic will melt. I did indeed try an electric hacksaw once, and yes that's exactly what happened. With the blade running fast it either cracked the plastic or melted it. Running slow enough on a speed controlled saw, it caught too often and cracked it as well...:-(( I ended up having to cut a number of sheets for a large street lamp we made, 18 months ago. Tried a number of methods on off cuts, with varying success. Unless it's very thin, scoring and snapping doesn't work. The best result I got was the method above; a metal blade in a jig. Drop the speed as low as it can go, and cut slowly but steadily. I found that some of the plastic swarf would melt in the kerf, but you can quickly rerun the jig along the cut. If you have access to a heger saw then that would be better still as there is less blade to plastic contact; I didn't. HTH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveo Posted October 19, 2009 Share Posted October 19, 2009 Tony, we use Amari quite a bit in Halesowen I think they are, they other ones we use are Maxwell Jones in Redditch both should be able to cut to size. If you get really desperate give me a shout in the Showscape Office as I may be able to sort something out from an off cut here Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spock Posted October 19, 2009 Share Posted October 19, 2009 Not too near to you I know, but you could always try Abplas. I have had stuff cut to size there before and they have always been very helpful. Website is http://www.abplas.co.uk/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ynot Posted October 19, 2009 Author Share Posted October 19, 2009 Tony, we use Amari quite a bit in Halesowen I think they are,Wednesbury, but not far off.Have already fired a mail off to them, thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ra Ra Posted October 19, 2009 Share Posted October 19, 2009 I will be Googling and checking my usual sources shortly, but if anyone has any preferred and reliable suppliers for small quantities of perspex sheeting I'd be grateful for any pointers. It will be for making up the 'window' in a large panto washing machine - so another bonus would be a supplier who would cut a circle to order. Otherwise I need some best tips on making curved cuts out of the material.Straight lines with a sharp Stanly blade have been OK on the odd occasion I've used perspex in the past, just scoring and breaking, but cutting a circle I suspect isn't going to be that simple. So - ideas from those who've done it please... My suggestion would be Amari Plastics in West London for the material or Zone Creations www.zone-creations.co.uk to do the whole job including cutting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuziQ Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 I will be Googling and checking my usual sources shortly, but if anyone has any preferred and reliable suppliers for small quantities of perspex sheeting I'd be grateful for any pointers. It will be for making up the 'window' in a large panto washing machine - so another bonus would be a supplier who would cut a circle to order. Otherwise I need some best tips on making curved cuts out of the material.Straight lines with a sharp Stanly blade have been OK on the odd occasion I've used perspex in the past, just scoring and breaking, but cutting a circle I suspect isn't going to be that simple. So - ideas from those who've done it please... My suggestion would be Amari Plastics in West London for the material or Zone Creations www.zone-creations.co.uk to do the whole job including cutting Hi try Mardan Display in Lancashire - I think these are the suppliers, They are able to form majority of plastics (perspex) into a number of different products and are pretty reasonable. There's a girl there called Sue - Tel: 01706 816692. she should be able to help you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 MDF template and a router with thin cutter and guide roller worked quite well for me. Although an old door from a commercial washing machine would be much, much, simpler! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ynot Posted March 22, 2010 Author Share Posted March 22, 2010 MDF template and a router with thin cutter and guide roller worked quite well for me. Although an old door from a commercial washing machine would be much, much, simpler!Welllll..... a) the door was on a panto washing machine, and as such was about 3 feet in diameter...b) the show was back in January, so the answer (for me) is a bit late in the day!andc) That's how we did in fact make the cut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cedd Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 I know this topic has run its' course, but with regard to cutting plastics with a powered saw and the resulting melted joint where the cut was meant to be.... Use masking tape over the cut, so you're in effect cutting the masking tape in half lengthways. I have no idea how or why this works, but you'll find that with most plastics, you don't get a welded seam anymore. And for anybody looking for plastics in the north of england, I'd heartily reccomend WKH fabrications;WKH fabricationsGood bunch of guys, based in Yeadon, Leeds (Right on the boundary of Leeds Bradford Airport). They'll make pretty much anything out of plastic. Not a theatrical company, but if you can draw it, they'll make it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard_cooper Posted March 27, 2010 Share Posted March 27, 2010 And whilst we're all digging up old threads The Plastic Man could have done it, and they have a usefull online calculator. Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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