Tips on tooling and cutting thin plastic sheets

[Zamm]

I'm a first timer, my machine is being delivered on Saturday. My first project will be cutting plastic sheets that are 0.09" thick. This will be a production part so I want to do this properly to gets repeatable results. I am thinking I need a vacuum hold down. Any tips or links would be greatly appreciated!

[gbradley]

Kevin

What size machine are you getting? How big are the parts going to be out of this .09 plastic? what type of plastic is it?

[knight_toolworks]

type of plastic is critical they all cut differently. Plus how large are the pats? the thinner it is the more of a pain it is.

[Zamm]

Kevin

What size machine are you getting? How big are the parts going to be out of this .09 plastic? what type of plastic is it?

I bought the Desktop. The parts will range from 1x2" to 12x15" The material is Celluloid. I will eventually make the same parts out of 0.060" Aluminum.

Celluloid is a flammable solid which I am already familiar working with. I believe it is considered a soft plastic.

[scottp55]

Kevin, First- Congrats!:)
Second, NO experience with materials like that, but would think Vac might be best. George B. saw the 1.4"D buttons at the Maine Shopbot Camp and thought it was do-able even with .18" exotics with a 3/32" cup in 4" wide blank.
Maybe PM?
Good luck,
scott

[donek]

I just got off the phone with someone wishing to cut a cellulose material with our drag knife. This should be no problem, but your smaller dimensions may be. He informed me that cutting with a router bit tends to result in fires. They have to be very careful due to the combustible nature of the material. It is also prone to gumming up bits I guess. Take a look at www.donektools.com. You can purchase your tool direct from shopbot as well.

[gbradley]

Kevin

The plastic or aluminum would be no issue to cut with our gasket techniques. But the plastic material being flammable, this something I have no experienced with. With the right feeds and speeds we can cut finished parts in a single pass. We recommend C.R. Onsrud bits, but i would discuss the material that you are trying to cut with what ever tool manufacture you choose and ask what bit to use,feeds, and speeds to cut the material. Let me know if I can help in any way.

Thanks Scott for the plug, don't forget if you need anything let me know as well.

[Bob Eustace]

Kevin I would definitely go with Seans drag knife (we have one) as fifty years ago I burnt down a factory routing spectacle frames using the pin method. Even though extinguishers were right next to the machines there wasnt enough time to reach one. The stuff just explodes. Stopped working with it after that. I cant see it ever catching fire with a drag knife.

[tlempicke]

Ive done a lot of that and have a pretty foolproof method.

Put a layer of sign release tape on the backside of the plastic. Spray with 3M spray on adhesive and mount on a piece of Masonite or thin plywood. Screw that down to you table and have at it.

I use a special plastic cutting bit but I can not remember the manufacturer right at the minute. It only has one cutting flute but does a great job and you get one whole lot of cutting out of each 1/8 inch bit.