Which bit to use to cut 1/4",3/8" and 1/2" acrylic?

[hquintnailla@byte-tek.com]

Wondering which bit to use for the purpose mentioned...

[billp]

Hector, I've used the spiral "O"bits for up to 3/8"acrylic and they cut cleanly and easily. I've used a 3/16", and a 1/4". I was cutting full sheets into blanks, and I cut at about 1.25" per second. I probably could have gone a little bit faster but saw no need to. One bit was a Behlen, and the other was from BAM tools. Bill P.

[gerald_d]

Now that "Behlen" is being mentioned, I thought that I would just pass on a little bit of info . . . . .

Belin is a company in France that produces super high quality cutting bits. They have a slow website at www.belin-y.com (http://www.belin-y.com/us/accueil.htm) The e-mail address on the website does not work, the correct e-mail address is belin@belin-y.com (mailto:belin@belin-y.com). Belin produces many un-marked bits for larger cutter suppliers who "re-brand" them. But, Belin seems to be happy to export directly to the smaller guys, like us. I get them to deliver to me in Europe when I am on business there. Suggest that you browse around these pages (http://www.belin-y.com/shopus/default.asp) (our normal purchases are the ED and EG "cutting millers") and then request a catalog (http://www.belin-y.com/us/infos_ens.asp).

[elcruisr]

I've cut up to 1.5" acrylic on mine. For stuff up to 3/8" I have used a 1/4" upspiral O flute. I found one website that covers routing plastics, www.plasticrouting.com, it has alot of good info. The thicker stuff needs to be cut slow at lower rpms to prevent the shavings from overheating and rewelding in the cut behind the bit. For thicker stock I use a plastic "finisher" from Onsrud. It's a "slow" spiral O flute designed just for hard plastics. The edge quality is fair, the lack of ridgidity relative to expensive machines limits what you can do on the thicker stock. We usually have to do a little sanding on the 1.25" work to improve the cut for flame polishing.

[twiles]

What do you guy's do for dust collection when cutting plastic related materials?? I have some requests to cut Solid Surface. I have cut some in the past, but it was a small run and I did it without dust collection and just cleaned, and cleaned, and cleaned..... I have an Oneida cyclone system with all grounding, etc., but the static from Solid Surface materials are nasty. Kinda scares me even if I clean all saw-dust out of the system before cutting plastic with it.

[elcruisr]

I also have an oneida cyclone in the shop but hooked the 'bot up to a stand alone Jet cyclone designed for a single tool. The reason was because the 'bot was about 20' from the end of the last run for the Oneida. Now I'm glad because it separates the rest of the system when cutting plastics. The whole system is grounded but you're right about the static. We had to run a ground wire down the short length of flex to dissipate the static. No other problems so far!

Eric