Hi all...I've got 1 43" x 15" x 3/4" piece of plywood that I'm using for a control panel for my arcade box...I'm plannign on bolting on a 1/8" thick sheet of acrylic plexi on top of it to protect my labels and whatnot...but the problem is I've got a bunch of holes to drill and cut through the both of them... The holes have to match and are 1 1/8" diameter...I have a 1 1/8" spade bit...but not a hole saw, can get a hole saw, but have been using the spade bit thus far...I dunno how well the spade bit will work on the acrylic though... If I want the holes to match can I just clamp the wood and the acrylic together and drill both at the same time? or should I think of something else?
i've drilled plexie wiht a spade bit it worked fine for me i had to put a wood backer on the plexie to keep it from blowing out but if you clamp the wood and plexie togeather that would serve the same porpose. yes you can reill both at the same time with eather bit.
woodshop is correct. many have used spadebits successfully on acrylic and I would not only suggest a backer board but to actually sandwich the acrylic between two scrap pieces of wood for extra insurance.
Ok, thanx...now, these holes are going to be pretty close to each other...they are 1 1/8" holes and their center points will be 1 1/2" apart...any precautions I shoudl take for drilling them close together above and beyond the wood sandwiching?
if you have one, use a pillar drill, this will ensure nice perpendicular holes, also dont use the drill too slow, as it can bind up rater than cutting and rip it out of your hands. best suggestion, practice on some scrap.
Which is better? Spade bit or hole saw? Cuz I now have access to both for the purposes of drilling the acrylic.
OK, here's what I would do. Take a scrap piece of wood, cut your holes using the hole saw in the correct locations. Once you have that done, use that piece as a template and the top part of your sandwich to then use the hole saw on the acrylic sandwiched between the template wood on top and a scrap piece on the bottom. When cutting the wood with the hole saws you can pretty much cut as fast as you want but when you then move to the acrylic cutting remember to go slow or the heat produced can distort the acrylic or even crack it.
So the holesaws are better then? Seems as such considering they have less surface area in contact with the plastic which generates less friction/heat.
They both work well but I like hole saws better. Those outside edge points on the spade bit raise the chances of creating little chips when you first start cutting the hole. Spades cut much faster but hole saws cut better if you use them right. Just my opinion.
