Re: Working with Plexiglas

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Jim Lux by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <jimlux-at-earthlink-dot-net>


Tricks for Acrylic (or Polycarbonate) edges:

1) Use a single edge razor blade to scrape the edge.  Hold the piece with
the edge horizontal and up (that is, with  the long skinny surface facing
up).  A couple blocks of wood in a vise works real well, and doesn't
scratch the plastic.  Hold the razor blade perpendicular to the edge (i.e.
the long axis of the blade crossways to the long axis of the plastic) and
scrape it until the edge is fairly smooth. You don't want to tilt the blade
so that it cuts, you want that scraping action. It will look a bit milky.

2) Fire up the torch and fire polish the edge.  Just a light touch with the
torch melts the surface roughness to a mirror finish.  A bit of practice on
a scrap will tell you how much heating is necessary.  If the plastic
catches fire, it's too much heat. You don't want the edge to get rounded
off if you are going to be gluing it.  (In fact, you don't really need to
firepolish if you are gluing, because the glue will fill in the roughness
just fine).

The initial scraping step is the key.  If you just sand and then hit it
with the torch, it doesn't work very well.

> little sanding that's it. I saw before a guy use a propane torch
> to finish the edge like a mirror, I try it but don't have a good
> result It's probably take a lot of practice.

> Luc Benard
> > When I finally do get the stuff cut, I have a rough
> > edge that defies my best efforts to smooth & polish
> > it.  What's the secret to cutting Plexiglas sheet?
> > How do I get a professional-looking finish on the