IowaRV9Dreamer
Well Known Member
Well, it was finally hot enough and I was ready enough to make the big cut today:
After talking to many people, including my uncle (who taught plastics for years in school) I decided that the Vans abrasive disc wasn't for me. I did try it on a couple of practice cuts (as well as the smaller dremel tool version). It worked fine, but made a lot of dust and there was a fair amount of melting. I noticed that most industrial people are cutting plexi with a saw.
I decided to try one of the new oscillating tools. I saw the Fein version (very expensive) and the Harbor Freight version ($40). Lowes aircraft supply had both the Dremel Multi-Max ($99 without the round HSS cutting blade) and the Rockwell Sonicrafter ($119 with the round blade). The Rockwell was 2.3A and was made of metal (more on this later). It is noticably more solid than the Dremel, and was a bit heavier. It also came with a carry bag and more accessories. Here is a pic showing the blade I used:
As you can see, I used the semi-circular HSS saw that came with the tool. If you aren't familiar with this tool, it moves the blade back and forth, but only 3 degrees at 20,000 times per second. You can't actually see it move and you can touch the blade when it is on without getting cut. The blade is quite thin, and the kerf is like 1/32".
The tool allows you to make plunge cuts if you want, or you can just cut a groove partially thru the plastic. I found it best to make 2 or 3 passes making a groove, before plunging through the groove and completing the cut. There is almost no dust. The material that does come out is essentially tiny pieces of melted plastic, and it does not come out at high velocity like you get with the abrasive disc. The tool is extremely controllable and easy to use.
You can see how I completed the "big cut" in this picture. The canopy had duct tape straps on the bottom to keep it from spreading and the whole thing was taped to the shipping crate.
(PS - Ignore my grumpy face... it was hot in the garage!)
The whole process took like 20 minutes or less, generated very little dust, and made a clean edge. I put some 60 grit sandpaper on my little black and decker palm sander and cleaned up the edges. I will go back with finer grits soon, when I complete the trims on the other 3 sides.
All in all, the big cut was a non-event with the Sonicrafter:
The only down side that I found was that the aluminum gear box at the end of the tool gets quite hot. There are air vents up there where hot air blows out of. Of course the shop was warm to start with, but it became hard to hold the end of the tool. I was able to comfortably use the tool anyway, while avoiding the hot end. It cooled down quickly when I turned it off.
After talking to many people, including my uncle (who taught plastics for years in school) I decided that the Vans abrasive disc wasn't for me. I did try it on a couple of practice cuts (as well as the smaller dremel tool version). It worked fine, but made a lot of dust and there was a fair amount of melting. I noticed that most industrial people are cutting plexi with a saw.
I decided to try one of the new oscillating tools. I saw the Fein version (very expensive) and the Harbor Freight version ($40). Lowes aircraft supply had both the Dremel Multi-Max ($99 without the round HSS cutting blade) and the Rockwell Sonicrafter ($119 with the round blade). The Rockwell was 2.3A and was made of metal (more on this later). It is noticably more solid than the Dremel, and was a bit heavier. It also came with a carry bag and more accessories. Here is a pic showing the blade I used:
As you can see, I used the semi-circular HSS saw that came with the tool. If you aren't familiar with this tool, it moves the blade back and forth, but only 3 degrees at 20,000 times per second. You can't actually see it move and you can touch the blade when it is on without getting cut. The blade is quite thin, and the kerf is like 1/32".
The tool allows you to make plunge cuts if you want, or you can just cut a groove partially thru the plastic. I found it best to make 2 or 3 passes making a groove, before plunging through the groove and completing the cut. There is almost no dust. The material that does come out is essentially tiny pieces of melted plastic, and it does not come out at high velocity like you get with the abrasive disc. The tool is extremely controllable and easy to use.
You can see how I completed the "big cut" in this picture. The canopy had duct tape straps on the bottom to keep it from spreading and the whole thing was taped to the shipping crate.
(PS - Ignore my grumpy face... it was hot in the garage!)
The whole process took like 20 minutes or less, generated very little dust, and made a clean edge. I put some 60 grit sandpaper on my little black and decker palm sander and cleaned up the edges. I will go back with finer grits soon, when I complete the trims on the other 3 sides.
All in all, the big cut was a non-event with the Sonicrafter:
The only down side that I found was that the aluminum gear box at the end of the tool gets quite hot. There are air vents up there where hot air blows out of. Of course the shop was warm to start with, but it became hard to hold the end of the tool. I was able to comfortably use the tool anyway, while avoiding the hot end. It cooled down quickly when I turned it off.
