Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: titanic3 on August 15, 2012, 10:36:56 PM
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How would one go through this? I have to cut a very hard plastic in order to fit it in a build I'm doing. An example of the type of plastic I'm talking about would be like big toy car. It doesn't have to be an exact clean cut, I just have to reduce the size of the block by about 1 inch. I was thinking using an old kitchen knife and heating it up. I do have a razor teeth saw but I tried it this morning and it's nearly impossible to cut through it (maybe I'm not strong enough :frown: ). It's definitely too hard to cut without any heat applied, at least with hand tools.
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Use a dremel with a cutoff wheel, if thats too small then use a 4 1/2" hand grinder with a metal cutting wheel on it.
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Ok, thanks for the quick reply. Is there any other option that doesn't involve using power tools? I don't own one and would have to ask a neighbor for one so Id rather not have to do that. If its the only option, then I guess I have mo choice.
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hack saw blade?? I have had to cut a lot of diferent things with just a hacksaw blade or a sawzall blade. I try not to cut plastic with a power tool as it seems to melt it and make a huge mess, but thats my experience.
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Ah, now that you remind me, i think I do have a hacksaw. Sure is gonna take a lot of work though. It's about 2 inches of solid plastic I have to cut through, with only 3 breaks in the line that I'm cutting through.
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Ill come rip it in half for yuh :devil
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Not sure of the type of plastic,shape ect. but you can use a wire to cut through plastic by simply heating it with an electric current.
A couple of aligator clips,some heavy "lead wire" and a thinner cutting wire and a power source is all you need. However the "hacksaw" wwill work and a sawsall with a metal blade will make short work of it. Amother method would involve a trim router but as you said you dont have the tools.
I worked with acrylics for awhile and we cut it with various things depending on the thickness and what needed to be done,cutting with a heated wire let you make bandsaw type cuts that were as smooth as the product.
:salute
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Not sure of the type of plastic,shape ect. but you can use a wire to cut through plastic by simply heating it with an electric current.
A couple of aligator clips,some heavy "lead wire" and a thinner cutting wire and a power source is all you need. However the "hacksaw" wwill work and a sawsall with a metal blade will make short work of it. Amother method would involve a trim router but as you said you dont have the tools.
I worked with acrylics for awhile and we cut it with various things depending on the thickness and what needed to be done,cutting with a heated wire let you make bandsaw type cuts that were as smooth as the product.
:salute
If the guy doesn't have power tools he won't have supplies to build a heated wire either :)
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A 24 tpi 12" hacksaw blade also works quite well on most plastics if you remove it from the frame, turn it round so the teeth cut on the in-stroke and wrap some tape around the first four inches for a handle. This is especially useful if you have to hold the item yourself.
Generally try to avoid inhaling the dust.
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No tools? That sucks.
Is go with sawsall or circular with diamond blade.
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If you have a soldering iron, you can get an X-acto hot knife attachment. Cuts are perfect.
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hacksaw, low tooth count :aok
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Thanks for the reply folks, I plan on doing it later today, will let you know how it goes. :aok
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Power tools will only make the plastic melt, clog the blade and possibly "work harden" the material and potentially release vapors into the air that you are probably better off not inhaling. A fine-toothed saw blade will also do the same thing. You need to provide for chip clearance as the material is removed.
Use a hand saw, coarse toothed and a little soap if you need lubrication. Take your time and it will come out just fine.
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(maybe I'm not strong enough :frown: ).
Remember to let the tool do its work. :old:
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Yay, it worked. Used hacksaw but before, I held the plastic over a fire for a little bit to soften the plastic so I could make grooves in it in order to cut without it twitching and shaking.
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How thick is it exactly And is it flat or curved or what?
If its flat often you can score it a few times with a razor blade and then just snap it.
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How thick is it exactly And is it flat or curved or what?
If its flat often you can score it a few times with a razor blade and then just snap it.
It basically looked like this \_ but was 2 inches thick. I wanted to keep it like \_ shape but make it less wide (it was about 6 inches across, I needed to get it down to 5 in order to fit). The shape made it very hard to hold still so I first had to make at least 50 tiny cuts with the saw in order to have the cutting line and then just started sawing away. It worked quite well but took about 20 minutes.
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Ahhh.
I'd have just used my band or chop saw
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Not sure of the type of plastic,shape ect. but you can use a wire to cut through plastic by simply heating it with an electric current.
A couple of alligator clips,some heavy "lead wire" and a thinner cutting wire and a power source are all you need. However the "hacksaw" will work and a Sawzall with a metal blade will make short work of it. Another method would involve a trim router, but, as you said, you don't have the tools.
I worked with acrylics for awhile, and we cut it with various things depending on the thickness and what needed to be done, cutting with a heated wire let you make bandsaw-type cuts that were as smooth as the product.
:salute
The above is an excellent posting of yours from 2012 on cutting through hard plastic with a hot wire. :banana:
I just need clarification on two points --
(1) what type of power supply?
-- Obviously, 120VAC wall current is not only dangerous, but would probably be too hot and would likely trip a circuit breaker immediately unless the cutting wire was so thin as to also be easily breakable.
-- Would a doorbell transformer (16 VAC) be a way to go?
-- How about low AC or DC voltage from a "wall wart" transformer? -- I have lots of them, from 3V to 20V.
-- I'm an electrician who needs to trim both sides of a plastic switchplate to fit into a narrow space with straight sides, so I would have no trouble creating or adapting whatever is needed.
(2) How do I keep the heated wire straight while cutting?
-- Holding it stiffly in gloved hands somehow is an invitation for disaster with my inherent "gracefulness", so what kind of wire holder should I try to fabricate?
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You could google "DIY hot wire cutter" for a bunch of examples
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Pm sent!
For a one off small job I would use a trim router or router table. Seems like alot of effort to trim a base plate to go to the trouble of making a wire cutter,we used industrial machines that ran on 220v IIRC. This was for cutting thickish plexi,anything thicker than 3/8ths would be a devil to cut on a saw! It could be done but you went through blades like no tomorrow. The sawed edge would be rough and you'd have to use a torch to melt the plexi to make it clear and smooth,or use a wire cutter and save a step!
What it comes down to is how thick and how dense the plastic is,a base plate for a switch would be easy to do with just a router and high RPM.
YMMV!
:salute
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Dremel is the way to go on a small switch plate.
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Dremel is the way to go on a small switch plate.
Yup,a dremel is just a router without the fancy base plate!
:salute
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Yup,a dremel is just a router without the fancy base plate!
And a better publicist. :devil
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And a better publicist. :devil
:rofl :rofl True that as I have several "dremels" but I have a nice portercable trim router that has a removable base plate,variable speed and IMHO is way better for most jobs!
Admittedly there are times when the dremel is your best bet,I have a buddy who does chainsaw carving and he uses a dremel to do a lot of the fine work! It uses a 1/3 hp motor and a flexible shaft but it's made for heavy usage!
:salute
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Heat is your enemy when cutting plastic. Be sure you're cutting it and not melting it.
Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk
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Hand held scroll saw would do it easily
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have cut plastic pipe with nylon string :banana: