Im not sure exactly where this would go but its got a little to do with modding so... Anyways im geting ready to order materials for my case and will be ordering the Acrylic from www.delviesplastics.com as they seem to have the best prices. but what kind of price is the shipping going to be? i'll be ordering 5 sheets of 24"x48". i sent them email yesterday requesting quote for shipping but have yet to receive answer. i know thats not long time but i need to order soon. preferably by end of weekend. for those who have ordered from them maybe you could give estimate of what the cost of shipping would be? it would be shipped to the US though. not to canada even though my profile says im in canada. i can ship to the US as im a few miles away. but if someone in canada has ordered from them i would like to know if shipping will be much more. BTW while im posting this i may as well ask some questions about working with acrylic. - is there any special blades to use in a table saw to cut acrylic? - special bits in a drill? - what about scroll saw blades? ive never worked with acrylic and want to make sure i use the right tools and not wreck them. Thanks
nevermind about the shipping price. it will cost $40. just got an email from them. but what special things do i need to cut and work with the acrylic. ruining it by using the wrong tools wouldnt be cool.
Nothing really special; finer blades for saws are essential. Also be sure that you aren't using aggressive high-speed drill bits as they'll tear in and chip out of the other side.
what do i need to avoid doing so it doesnt melt? for saw blade would one that is for malemine (sp?) wood would be good? we have a blade like that and it seems real good. i guess i could do a test cut.
Some tips from an Enginerring Technician who regularly machines this kind of stuff:- You need to make sure that you keep the job and the cutter from overheating otherwise the cuttings can fuse together or worse clog the cutter and it will then end up ploughing rather than cutting. This applies to any of the operations you intend to carry out but is especially relevant for the jigsaw. I don't see any mention of how thick your acrylic sheet is (presumably relatively thin if its for a case mod) but this is still something you should be aware of irrespective of how thick it is. If you try to drill all the way through a piece of acrylic without using coolant you will find that you will get a very poor finish, the cuttings will start to melt together which may then try to melt to the sides of the hole you are drilling and most significantly when the drill breaks through to the other side you could have shattered or chipped edges. If it is a thick piece you are drilling, you can actually see the drill melting its way through the job rather than cut if it overheats and it will then tend to wander off the vertical or horizontal axis. However the worst thing that can happen is that when you break through the drill will suddenly have no resistance (especially if you are leaning heavily on the drill) and will tend to dive through the job at a rate proportional to the speed of rotation (i.e. fast speed, fast dive) or it could actually pull the acrylic upwards if its not securely clamped or rip it out of your hands if you are holding it. Needless to say the bigger the hole you are cutting the greater the risk of this happening. You should also be aware that thin acrylic sheet can be very brittle if you stress it and it can crack, chip and split quite easliy. Make sure you have a bit of scrap wood under the sheet when you are drilling it, if you can clamp it to a piece of wood when you are using the jigsaw the blade will be less likely to catch as its cutting and rip the sheet up and down. Don't try to cut through with the jigsaw too quickly, give the blade time to cut and if you can, try to have a vacuum cleaner to suck up the cuttings. Don't be tempted to use water as a lubricant, use something oil based if you don't actually have proper cutting lubricant. As much as it pains me to suggest this, you could use WD-40 but its not really a good idea to do so long term as it can vapourise and go into aerosol which is not good for you to breath in. If you must use it then do so with plenty of ventilation and wear proper eye protection. The eye protection is very important with acrylic as the cuttings can be quite small and lighter than air if they are small enough and they will tend to float about. They will have a high static charge as well which will make then stick to just about every surface. I think that should be enough to get you going, try out your cutting techniques on some scrap bits first, don't try to do it all in one almighty make or break effort, when drilling remember to make several "pecks" for each hole as this will allow the drill and cuttings to cool and clear themselves from the hole. Let me know if you have any other queries.
thank you. what is best to use for cooling it down or lubricating it when cutting? i dont use that when cutting on table saw though do i? just when drilling or scroll saw or jig saw and dremel stuff right? the acrylic is 1/4" thick. another question i forgot to ask. should i be concerned about it getting damaged in the mail or is it packaged well enough? thanks
Drill bits: unless you are using a drill press (and even then) you will want special plastic drill bits. The surface of plastic will cause a regular bit to walk, and suddenly your hole is not where it's supposed to be. Tap plastics has drill bits. Table saw: Delvies uses good plastics so you probably won't melt it with a standard blade, but you'll want to move it quickly and cool down between cuts. Probably. I'd personally invest in a plastic cutting blade (ie Amana). Scrollsaw, I use a standard blade, and medium-low speed. Again, never had delvie's melt on me, but you might want pause between long cuts. Delvie's sandwiches the plastic in big corrugate cardboard sheets, never had any problems, but I'm sure they'd take care of it if it happened. As mentioned, MASK properly, practice. Read captain slug's sticky. navig
UPS dropped my 1st Delvies order on it's corner, I only lost about 1/8". The stuff handles rough treatment well. You might ask them to add extra cardboard to the corners if it bugs you. Those Amana blades are so expensive I went ahead and bought a wet-cut tile saw.
Lucky for me I just drive to Delvies and pick my acrylic up so I don't have to worry about shipping. As far as working with it goes: I have had pretty decent results using the same drill bits that I normally use for metal. Granted I do drill at a lower RPM and with a lighter pressure than usual. I too have not had any issues with their acrylic melting on me. However I have had acrylic from other sources melt on me like crazy and it makes things 10x harder. Ever since I have been getting my supplies from Delvies I haven't had any issues. And as always, measure three times, cut/drill once.
ya our drill press isnt fast i dont think. its an old huge drill press made by Beaver. works awesome. gonna find out about the fees it will cost for bringing over the border into canada and hopefully order tonight or tomorrow.
i ordered the acrylic! decided to go with 1/8" and save $100. cause i will have aluminum frame 1/8" will do fine. found out from a customs officer i only pay tax and nothing else so that is good.
if your going to use 1/8" acyrlic the best to cut is a router , also to keep the material from chipping a layer of masking tape over the protective covering helps (same for drilling) . all holes drilled over 3/32" should get a pilot hole , and you dont want a really low rpm as the bit will grab and possibly "chunk" when it passes through . if you dont need the clear/opeac (sorry about the poor spelling) qualities of acrylic pollypro pvc or abs would be better choices , if you do use a skill , table, jig , saber, scroll , ban saw there are plastics blades available ,all the blades shouldnt be too coarse or too fine (coarse=chipping, fine=loading up and melting),bi-metal reciprocating blades work great and are cheap , for gluing plastic to plastic, weld-on has a fantastic line products
ya i ordered a pint on that weld on #3 that delvies sells. probly too much but it was cheap. also order 2 novus #1 and #2 kits. ordered some 1" half acrylic balls i might use for feet. so when i cut out my square pieces of 20"x20" or whatever i should use router? what bits? i need to help my dad and clean out our dang workshop. after building my desk its very messy in there. you say i should also put a layer of masking tape on the acrylic even with the protective covering? now this week i need to buy my aluminum and start getting exact lengths of what i need down. as im using translucent black for the whole thing and want to paint the inside so i cant see through then have the window not painted so when a light is on i can see through, should i cut out a whole and put in a window panel or just not paint where i want to see through? that would look neat huh?
for straight cuts with a router i use a straight flute with a fence , if i',m using my bench edge as the guide then a straight flute with a berring on the end . it all depends on the cut you want , if you do want to use a router a fence is a must if your not using a work surface with a flat surface and a straight edge , i reccomend looking up router techniques so you dont end up with a pile of worthless scrap , get to that cleaning! is you dad going to help with you project? if the two of you can make a desk your gonna have a great time with this in regards to your view window it will look alot cleaner if you just cut (use a x-acto #11 blade ) the protective coating into the shape you desire , oh and only pull the coating back/off where your going to glue until necessary before you cut anything you need to make a parts list , and a cut sheet (this way you can make all the "like minded cuts at the same time , save material and maintain size integrity, also its very important for any project to to have a clear plan before you start make a list of the hardware your going to be using (mobo ,drives ect ) get the dimentions of said parts , and make a mock-up of what you plan to build (cardboard will work fine) as long as the lid on and the weld-on is sealed tightly it wont turn(go kinda yellow) so you will have more for your next project, if you dont have a aplicator syringe for the glue you MUST get one (looks like a little nylon bottle with a needle for a cap) in regards to the masking tape over the coating , yess its a good idea , especially on the down side (as the blade pulls through the material it wants to chunk on the exit , my experience is it doesnt happen as often witn the tape in place , it could be a placebo but hey it works for me the most important thing is have fun , have a welll thought out plan , and take your time oh heres a small sample of the cuts that can be made with a router http://www.toolstoday.com/c-206-router-bits.aspx?gclid=CPTE9rWlgI8CFRGCGgodPWpQ2Q the router is your friend ,but always where protective glasses , and remember that all power tools dont care about you and will hurt you if you dont pay attention
oops on safety. ya he will help with some things i cant or dont know how to do. hope to get most of workshop clean by end of weekend. hes been working on cars so it cluttered with parts as our garage is attached to workshop ( workshop is old garage with new garage built onto front. its nice as it has own garage door and heating system. dont need to have it 100% clean as that would take years but i need to get at our band saw, router and scroll saw. ya it will be fun as long as he doesnt try to change everything lol. he usually does that as he is trying to help but when building desk i didnt let him so i dont think he'll do that. ya i'll draw out everything on paper and on the protective covering so i waste as little as possible. learned alot about that with desk (which i will post about yet sometime) i already got a list of what i want in the case. so im good with that. im trying to make sure i will have to much left over than just enough incase i change things and stuff. i already made a sketchup of the case so i basically got it all good. i see what you mean about tape. ill remember that. as im ordering extra ill do some experimenting first. and if something messes up i get more. im saving alot of money by going 1/8" and with the canadian dollar now even with the US dollar the computer will cost less than expected. YAY! so thank you for your help! look for my project log this month (hmm what to name it??? lol ) itll be a full one with 4 things being built at the same time. (computer, steering, wheel, pedals, and shifter) yup i like racing games. later.......... need to read 140 pages in this shatty book for school by 9:00am and it 1:00am. (yup i procrastinated)
