I've done some searching - but probably not enough.... Is thin lexan easy to cut without power tools? The theory goes that I put it on the counter, score a straight line with a razor blade, and snap the edge off. Does this work well? Any advice? What am I going to screw up? Thanks.....
Got it figured out - The whole scoring with a razorblade worked about as well as diving into an empty swiming pool..... So, I did this instead: Didn't get any feedback from bit, so I figured I'd just go for it and see what happened. Worked great.
Lexan From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Lexan is a brand of highly-durable polycarbonate resin thermoplastic intended to replace glass where strength justifies its cost. The trademark holder promotes the style "LEXAN", but both "Lexan" and "lexan" are commonly used (at least outside the context of sales literature) to describe polycarb without implying claims about its source. It is similar to polymethyl methacrylate (Plexiglas/Lucite) in appearance, but is far more durable, often to the point of being "bulletproof." Lexan is typically used in the aerospace industry for items such as aircraft canopies, windscreens and other windows, but can often be seen in household items, such as bottles, compact discs, and DVDs. Lexan is manufactured by GE Plastics, a unit of the conglomerate, General Electric. Perhaps the most visible Lexan consumer product is the so-called Nalgene, a 1-liter wide-mouthed water bottle; the company it is named after participates in Lexan's publicity.
It's a brand of acrylic, much like Plexiglas, in short. I forgot that Nalgene's were lexan... they're downright indestructable. Seriously. I've seen them abused like no other and they don't die. I've only ever seen one destroyed, and it was nothing short of ax'ed. The worst "standard" damage to one I've seen is filling it entirely with water and then freezing it (which causes the water to expand as it ices over, of course), which just bubbles it out. It also makes for quite indestructable windows. Something where you can throw a baseball at it (at pretty darned high speeds, like professional pitcher 90+MPH) and have it barely scratch it. Anyways, my best experiences cutting lexan were with a very very very thin dremel bit. http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=search&item=DRB-9&type=store I got a bit about .3mm thick in one of those assortments and used it like a router with the drywall (I think... micro-plastic-router thing) dremel attachment. Worked great till I snapped it in half. A hacksaw blade works fairly well, though leaves pretty nasty edges.
Yeah - my 7 inch circular saw worked just fine. I tried to break one of my scraps, and literally couldn't... The store display said acrylic was 20 times stronger than glass and that lexan was 250 times stronger than glass.
