What is best to cut thin sheet acrylic down to turn with? My hole saws are too coarse.Cut it but not very good.They try to melt it running slow as will go.

I've always used a hole saw and then put a bunch of them on a mandrel and turned them smooth, but this might just be the answer!!! [www.grizzly.com] I have one on order and will post results when I try it. Thanks to Michael Bloom for finding it!!

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!

Hi Bruce,

Mike Barkley also indicated that he used a drillpress. Having tried cutting circles for turning using a hand drill, I found that a drill press is necessary. The circle cutter that Mike mentioned can also be obtained fro Harbor Freight. I purchased a drill press from Harbor Freight as well. While it is not the best you can get, for what I am doing it is more than adequate. I have used the drillpress and circle cutter to cut 1/8" and 1/16" acrylic sheets. Good luck.

Mike Blomme

Bruce,
Put some different pulleys on your drill press so that you can run the drill bit more slowly to keep the heat down on the plastic.
Roger

Mike,

I'd be curious to hear whether that tool can be used to cut the inlets for various embedded fly reel seat hoods. Each manufacturer's hood has its own unique diameter so maybe this tool can be set to an infinite number of diameter settings. I realize that it wouldn't remove the cork, but once the OD is cut, an abrasive wheel on a Dremmel could remove the center.

Jeff Shafer

Never mind Mike, I just noticed that the smallest diameter hole the tool will cut is 1".

Thanks anyway,
Jeff



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/05/2010 12:06PM by Jeff Shafer.

Bruce,
I use a rotozip to make my rough cuts. The general purpose bits work just fine.

Tight lines,

JH

Roger,
The HF SKU 38119 drill press has five stacked pulleys which gives speeds from 630 RPM to 3100 RPM. I set mine on 630 and it works fine for the thickness of the acrylic sheets I am using. I haven't observed any melting so far.

Mike Blomme

The best method for cutting circles is by rough cutting your diameters, then using a router table and a template double stick taped to the workpiece to smooth the edges. This is the way professional plastics fab shops do it.

If you're looking for clear acrylic, there are ready made discs available in a couple of thicknesses(3mm and 6mm) and multiple diameters from US Plastics, among others, at a very reasonable cost when you consider the tooling and labor of doing it yourself.

I just cut them square with a saw, either hand or power; drill a hole in the center and turn round.

Try wetting it down with a sqirt bottle of water,this will cool the plastic

I also use a hole saw in a drill press for acrylics from 1/16" to 1/4" and do not have melting problem. My aggravation is getting the cut circles out of the hole saw, I get them but it is a pain!

As for the post re recesses for reel seats, I use Forstner bits and find the 3/4", 13/16" & 7/8" pretty well cover all the reel seats I've encountered. Sometimes it takes a small amount of work with a Dremel tool to make the fit precise. I have successfully used these bits on, cork, wood and carbon fiber grips.

I have used my bandsaw for cutting acrylic and it has worked just fine. I have never had a problem with the plastic melting.

I'm with Mark, cut square and center drill. I use my table saw to cut out the pieces and sometimes the bandsaw. Scuff em up, glue em up and turn with rest of handle. (But I have not used any with cork,just wood)

Just like reaming out cork with a drill. Cut a little and then back off so it has time to cool.

Bill - willierods.com