Drilling Cutting Acrylic?

[budsreef]

I need to drill 3.25" holes in acrylic, can I use a regular wood hole saw?

 

[grouper therapy]

Yes. Use slow speed to prevent melting instead of cutting.

 

[moebious]

I also need to do some acrylic cutting. I have access to a router. Is that the best tool. I need to cut slots for an overflow. Can i use a radial armsaw? Should i use a blade with lots of teeth? Should i turn the blade around backwards? Lots of questions.:confused2:

 

[grouper therapy]

moebious;538813 wrote: I also need to do some acrylic cutting. I have access to a router. Is that the best tool. I need to cut slots for an overflow. Can i use a radial armsaw? Should i use a blade with lots of teeth? Should i turn the blade around backwards? Lots of questions.:confused2:

I would use the router instead of the radial arm saw. If you use a circular saw bade of any type you do not need to turn it around. 7.25" and up diameter blade should have at least 60 teeth, carbide tipped with an tgc grind on the teeth.

 

[moebious]

I would use the router instead of the radial arm saw.

I was afraid you'd say that. I hate routers. BTW, what's atb grind?

 

[ryuchi]

My personal favorites are the white Milwalkee Drum Bits for Steel they have slots on the side to dig out the "puck" that is created and they never get dull. Table saws are great for the straight cuts I use the Diablo blades with lots of teeth, I wouldnt use the radial arm or miter saw for safety reasons, IMHO

 

[grouper therapy]

moebious;538872 wrote: I was afraid you'd say that. I hate routers. BTW, what's atb grind?

My bad not atb but use TCG
Triple Chip Grind (TCG) The TCG configuration excells at cutting hard materials like laminates, MDF, and plastics. Teeth alternate between a flat raking tooth and a higher "trapeze" tooth. The TCG configuration is also used for non-ferrous metal cutting blades.

 

[rededge2k1]

moebious;538872 wrote: i was afraid you'd say that. I hate routers.

blasphemy!

 

[moebious]

Thanks Grouper for clarifying. I will look into it.

Rededge, don't get me wrong, i love what they can do. Cabinet doors, dovetail, etc. But the last time used one it darn near killed me. My dad is pretty good with it, i'll probly get him to do it.

 

[morganatlanta]

A regular hole saw is fine on acrylic. When I was drilling my last tank I drilled a hole in a 1x6 then clamped that to the tank to provide a guide for the hole saw. I also clamped a fresh piece of 1x6 on the other side. Otherwise it can shake around a bit and you won't get as clean a cut, and you might split the acrylic as the bit exits the backside.

 

[budsreef]

Thanks for all the inputs, I'll give it a try today and let you know how it works out.

 

[budsreef]

Ok, I clamped the acrylic to a piece of plywood and drilled the holes. It worked just fine as everyone said. Now I just need to decide if I want to try bending the piece 90 degrees or cut it and glue it back at 90 degrees with weld-on.

 

[budsreef]

I bent the acrylic instead of cutting and glueing it and I had to elongate the holes some but I think it is going to work for me. What's the best way to smooth edges and remove the melted stuff that sticks back in place?

BTW, don't try cutting it with a scroll saw, DOH! The blade heats it up enough so it just fuses right back together and you come out the other end without cutting anything off.

 

[budsreef]

So here is what I was working on, a dual filter sock holder to be used in my new sump. I added a second overflow line and didn't have a clean way to attach it to the original so I ran it to the sump as well. It came out OK, but didn't look great since I didn't have the right tools to make it look cleaner. I put it in the 10G just for the pictures.

Unfortunately, the implementation didn't work out very well. I made the overflow section of the sump, a 55G, big enough to accomodate my Octopus 150 Skimmer and the two overflows, however I didn't take into account the skimmer needed to be oriented in such a way it wouldn't fit. The output tube of the skimmer needed to go in between the two filter socks so I cut out an area in the middle of the holder but didn't make it big enough so when I tested it I ended up breaking one of the arms of the holder. DOH! I ended up cutting off the good half and was able to at least have one of the overflows going through a sock. I glued the broken piece to the other half but still couldn't get it to fit so I got lucky and found a used MRC OF200 Skimmer which I hope to install later today along with the other sock holder.

Obviously the pictures here are before I hacked it up!
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[bobz]

Nice..it looked pretty clean before you screwed it up! :doh: I may have to ask you (nicely) to make me one too...

BZ