anyone know how to cut plexiglass?

[19accord92]

so im making a DIY red/clear tail light conversion and i just need to find a way to cut my plexiglass straight, does anyone know a tool i can use to cut plexiglass? ( razors etc too long and tedious ) do you know if anyone can cut it for you? thanks.

[minoreparations]

can't you just use a jigsaw and sand down the edges? i dunno.

[cb9tunerguy]

you can score and snap it. that usually makes for a clean edge

[19accord92]

tried that, doesnt work too well.... i cut the hypodermis off of my thumb.. not cool.

[uslspct]

Well I don't know what tools you have but any electric saw should do. Just nothing that'll spin too fast and melt it. The blade should have fine teeth and you might want to lubricate it as you cut. Look online for special bits too.
A local woodcraft store that makes furniture might do it for you.

[cp[mike]]

i used a jigsaw, but the edges dont come out too beautiful... maybe you could use a dremel with a sanding wheel to grind the edges down to size and make them straight...

[19accord92]

i used a jigsaw, but the edges dont come out too beautiful... maybe you could use a dremel with a sanding wheel to grind the edges down to size and make them straight...

i tried using some kind of hand saw, a coper saw or something? haha im saw illiterate. but it didnt cut straight and i didnt like it. so... yeah home depot wont cut plexiglass, so you think a local furniture making shop will?

[92acclude]

If you are cutting plexiglass sheet , you should use a tablesaw, but use a blade made for cutting it. A normal blade with crack it or melt it. I'd use a dremel on the taillight itself.

[sleepycb7]

veeerrrrrryyyy slowly....lol

[bruno8747]

Table saw we use at work to cut that. To make the edges clear and smooth again, you have to sand it down and then buff it out. Or you can use Novus. its a product to remove scratches from plastic.

[rickyduckworth]

i don't see why a straight edge and razor don't do the job for you....if you're cutting yourself, then just stop that part of it, you can't be any clumsier than the guys i work with and they're still alive.......just use some c-clamps to hold one end of the straight edge while you hold the other, score it and then "trace" score it a few times and you should get it to break clean that way......this goes for 1/8" and smaller.......with a saw, you have to have the right blade, speed, width, etc......scoring is easier AND quicker if it's thin enough

[Clemson90Accord]

The car club I'm in did a project about a year ago involving cutting plexiglass. We used an airsaw to cut it. It was almost a 1/4 of an inch thick so scoring was not an option. Plus it needed to be the shape of the rear window for our CRX. The saw did have an issue with melting though. A few times it melted it self to the plexiglass. Just go slow and clean the blade off often. The airsaw left a lot of burred edges but a sander smoothed it all out very nicely. Now we have one glass window and one plexiglass window. Oh well. Good luck!

[immeraufdemhund]

when i made my guages for my car i used plexiglass and i did all my drawing with a sharpie, scored the glass then broke it into squares. Next I drew out my circles with a sharpie and used a table grinder to get it close (left about 1/16 to an 1/8 of an inch) then did the rest with a 200 grit dremel and worked my way to 800 in 2 steps. That made it smooth and somewhat preaty. Lastly i painted it after checking shape. just take your time and always leave more than you need and detail your way down to the right size... it sucks to work 4 hours on something just to throw it away cause you cut too much....it sucks a WHOLLEE BUNCH!