Plexiglass, Acrylic, Polycarbonate

[ervand]

As I understand all of these three materials look fairly the same (Plexiglass, Acrylic, Polycarbonate)? Except some of them are stronger, some of them are cheaper and so on.. I never done anything with this materials, my questions are:

1. what do I use to cut these materials?
2. after i cut it a sheet it won't look good on the sides. what do i use to make it nice a smooth? (any better solutions then sanding paper?
3. What do I use to cut perfect circles?
4. to cut a sheet with a perfect 90 degree cut what do I use?

Never done any work with computer/case moding. I have a good experience with wood thought. Any suggestions to a beginner?

I actually need names of hardware and tools. My English is bad and I don't know the names of tools. Your tips will help me go the right way when I look for them in a hardware store.


PS: one more offtopic question. I have two computers. I want to get read of a monitor from the oldest one and use it as a server to store files on it. I probably will only need to keep motherboard, memory sticks, processor, hard drive and power block on it? Basecly i just want to make a huge external hard drive out of it =) what else do i need to set it up? what cables, to connect it to my main computer? (never dealed with networking too)

[ervand]

There was 20 views of this page,
No one wants to help me out with these simple questions?

[xRyokenx]

Well dude, it's not that no one wants to help, it's that nobody has an answer... I would've responded earlier, but I decided to wait and see if anyone else did. But yeah, try out the "Search" feature, I think I've seen a thread like this before.

Oh, and welcome to TBCS!

[elbarto241]

1. what do I use to cut these materials?
your choices are: electric jigsaw, bandsaw, or a hacksaw.
2. after i cut it a sheet it won't look good on the sides. what do i use to make it nice a smooth? (any better solutions then sanding paper?
flame polishing or wet-sanding does the trick
3. What do I use to cut perfect circles?
ummm depending on the side of the circle you can just cut out a rough circle, then drill a hole in the middle. mount a bolt on the hole and then throw that on a drill press or a clamped down hand drill. turn on the drill and use a sanding block to bring it down to size and bamn. perfect circle
4. to cut a sheet with a perfect 90 degree cut what do I use?
T-square, and a guiding piece of wood for straight lines.
Never done any work with computer/case moding. I have a good experience with wood thought. Any suggestions to a beginner?
take your time and don't rush through things. hate to see half-asses things that could of been great if a little more time was invested.

the other questions i couldn't really give an informative answer to....

if you still have doubts dont be afraid to ask again

[ervand]

Oh, and welcome to TBCS!

Thanks! I plan to be pretty active! Especially with so many questions =)

if you still have doubts dont be afraid to ask again

I do have a lot of questions regarding your reply. I would greatly appreciate if you help me out with the following questions:

Following questions are based on elbarto241 answers, but anybody's help is appreciated.

1. Electric Jig Saw
After browsing ebay I came up with several questions about it. Before I start I want you know that I never used this tool. So here we go:
1) Most of what i seen in range of $40-$60 are 500-3000 strokes per minute... Is this good anough for cutting straight/organic cuts on wood/metal?
2) There are some that come with laser pointers. Does it help a lot? Or is it just a nice thing to have?
3) There are some that can do 0 / 45 degree cuts. Does work well usually? or it isn't any good? (I am talking from experience after using some tools that had ability to cut 45 degree cuts, but never really worked. Like my phome-board cutter =/ )
4) What are scrolling/orbital jig saws? How are they different? Which one is best for me?
5) From what I understand these two choices are going to fit my needs. But I want to see if you answers are going to change my opinion. Mean while can you take a look at them and tell me which one you like more? I like the first one since it come with a box to store it. I like the second one, since it has a laser. What do you think? link 1 link 2 (It is ok if it is going to end before you/anybody answers. There are many more actions going on for the same tool and offer)
6) I just noticed that a jig saw on a second link costs much less. Does it mean it is crappy one? It's specifications look like most ~$50 ones, even better...

2. Making cuts look nice and smooth
Flame polishing won't work for me because of conditions I am working in. Wet-sanding - probably too.
1) How do you call a electronic tool that can sand paper/polish stuff?
2) An easier solution could be head that can be pluged into regular hole-driller with sanding-paper on the end? If so how do you call it?

3. Perfect circles
I don't really get it, but from what I get it is not what I am going to use. I am thinking of a same solution just as with sanding-paper with a regular driller.
1) Here it is! I found it! is that any good? if yes, how do you call those kinds of heads.

Your help is highly appreciated!
Thanks!

[Jim Beam]

1. Electric Jig Saw
After browsing ebay I came up with several questions about it. Before I start I want you know that I never used this tool. So here we go:
1) Most of what i seen in range of $40-$60 are 500-3000 strokes per minute... Is this good anough for cutting straight/organic cuts on wood/metal?
Yes these are good enough you should get a variable speed one because you may want to vary speed depending upon the material
2) There are some that come with laser pointers. Does it help a lot? Or is it just a nice thing to have?
nope its a waste of money because your usually not cutting in a straight line.
3) There are some that can do 0 / 45 degree cuts. Does work well usually? or it isn't any good? (I am talking from experience after using some tools that had ability to cut 45 degree cuts, but never really worked. Like my phome-board cutter =/ )
no it isn't usually great because the blade flexes and tends to wander
4) What are scrolling/orbital jig saws? How are they different? Which one is best for me?
doesn't matter for cutting metals or plexi the material is to hard for you to use the orbital feature if you cut wood it increases the speed which you can cut
5) From what I understand these two choices are going to fit my needs. But I want to see if you answers are going to change my opinion. Mean while can you take a look at them and tell me which one you like more? I like the first one since it come with a box to store it. I like the second one, since it has a laser. What do you think? link 1 link 2 (It is ok if it is going to end before you/anybody answers. There are many more actions going on for the same tool and offer)
if it were me I would get a scroll saw instead it offers better control and tighter cuts than a jig saw
6) I just noticed that a jig saw on a second link costs much less. Does it mean it is crappy one? It's specifications look like most ~$50 ones, even better...

[elbarto241]

4) oribital/scrolling jigsaw are just a feature which lets you turn the blade while your pushing to make a gentle curve. i rarely use it on metal, i use it more on wood.

make sure you get a metal blade for cutting metal and a wood blade for cutting wood. thats an easy way to mess up

5) a scrolls saw is good to make really tight cuts like tribal'soverkill BLACKOUT. if your going to be making large cuts with SOME intricate designs go for the jigsaw.

6) the brand of tool doesnt really matter, everyone has their favorite. just try to get the most powerful one you can afford.

oh and that thing to cut perfect circles is called a hole saw. they can go anywhere from $10-$100 [depending on the size].

[tybrenis]

What size of circles are you talking about? Turning a circle on a drill press is extremely dangerous and shouldn't be done, by the way...

A scroll saw or jig saw is NOT your best bet to cut acrylic with. A table saw is. Even with fine toothed metal blades jigsaws are not great for cutting with when it comes to acrylic, and especially not straight lines.

For the edges you'll want to scrape them, then you can flame polish them. You can ue any type of metal with a nice, crisp 90 degree edge. However, you said you can't flame polish - so scrape the edges down, and start with 400 grit sandpaper and work your way up to 2000 grit, all wet, ie 400, 600, 1000, 1500, 2000. Then you'll want to use some sort of polish to finish it off.

The best way to sand acrylic is probably without power sanders and tools, unless it is a big, wide, flat edge. Small files and sandpaper on a block of wood with help tremendously, remember - its plastic, itd easy to shape.

Finally, there is no difference between plexiglas and acrylic. Plexiglas is a brand name of acrylic, they are both polymethyl methacrylate. Polycarbonate is all together different. People group it to similar to acrylic simply because they are both clear, but it is no where near it - what those people don't know is that almost all plastics start of clear before they are dyed a certain color, ie. PVC, styrenes, etc.

Hope that cleared up some very false information that modders love to spread before they have even tried things themselves...

[elbarto241]

spinning a piece of acrylic isn't dangerous also long as it isn't bigger than 4inches and spins at a low speed. im not at all recommending to attach a 3ft oval to a drill press, crank up the speed and hit the start button.

a jigsaw and a scroll saw are sometimes the better tools than a table saw because of how little they cost compared to a table saw. they also have the ability to curve while their cutting, something i havnt seen a table saw do. in most cases you can buy both a decent jigsaw and scroll saw for half of what a table saw cost.

[.Maleficus.]

A jigsaw is not a good option. Period. Unless you're dealing with 1/4" thick or higher, don't use it. You'll save yourself headaches. At a low speed, the plexi will wobble and crack. At a high speed, the plexi will melt, fuse back together, and/or crack. A Dremel works better. Trust me, this is from experience.

Like ty said (who happens to be the plastic king) a table saw is better. If all else fails, get a Dremel. They can cut plexi for the most part, and do other useful things.