How to Cut Plexiglass Without Chipping 

What I love about this video, this guy gets straight to the point and just information, not a bunch of random crap about their personal lives, bad humor for 7minutes with only 2 minute of useful info. I love it, straight to the point!

Great tip Chris! Not sure why anyone would down vote this video when you're providing good tips.

This is a very well put together video. Speed is perfect, advice is excellent and there's no padding with unnecessary info or waffle. Many thanks Chris.

This guy is the best how to video personality anywhere on the internet. He's composed, he's extremely knowledgeable, he's concise yet thorough and he's full of unique and valuable tricks. Sir, if you started your own RU-vid channel and hired a social media manager to get the word out you would have 100,000 subscribers by 2018.

Excellent video. Now if I just had all these tools and the shop to put them in.

Just what I was looking for, a simple fix. Brilliant ! It's one of those things that seems so obvious AFTER one sees it that you might ask yourself ...Why didn't I think of that.

Simple and brilliant, thanks

Excellent video. I have no idea why I wasn't thinking of using one of my sleds for this as it's obviously the way to go. Great idea to cover it with plywood to stop the juddering and not cutting the corner last. Thank you very much for this!

Simple and to the point, good advice!

absolutely brilliant, thank you so much! Perfect for framing!

That's solid advice that also applies to delicate wood pieces too.

Very clever, quick and simple, thank you, a great idea

Simple and effective! GREAT!!! Thanks for hint!

Nicely done. Thanks. I had been reversing my saw blade but it takes additional time .

great video man, you helped me a bunch!

Wow! Great tip. Thanks

i wanted to replace the glass on cabinets for the my youtube cooking channel ...this was v helpful! thanks!

Good idea, thank you

What a great simple idea.

Great method, thanks.

Great info. Thx

Very useful. Thks. That I need.

Good for you.. we need to pass on the old carpenter and wood working tricks to these young 'un that are not in the field.. Well done yall!

great tips, great video, keep up the great work

Great video

Awesome thanks for the correct safe method... 👍... 👍

Nice nice very nice I like smart people. 100 pts!

thank you !

Great idea

Knowledge is power.

Perfect 👍

Thnx Chris. That looks like it works gr8. I have used a plywood blade that I mounted backwards on my table saw before, and it does a pretty good job. That plastic is nasty tho, no matter what you use.

Put masking tape on the area to be cut will help

Thanks!

2 direction cut very nice thanks

Perfect thanks

excellent

I will use this tip

Great tip thanks

Excellent. Thx

TAP sells an acrylic cutter which simply scores a line, and you snap off the excess. For thin acrylic like this, it would be a "snap".

Wow at the smudges from simply handling. I didn’t think it would be as drastic.

Thank you so much. Havnt the use of saw. Instead cut a 3 inch line at each end with a junior hack saw then scored a line with a Stanley and snapped of;had to tidy with a file,looks fine though.Thanks again

Thank you

Awesome.

great thanks

Impressive

Thanks

G’day, did you do all the cabinetry in your workshop there. If you did, it looks sensational, you must be really proud. It’s been on my to-do list for about 5 years lol

Good tip.

Great idea, thanks. I like that zero clearance insert in your sled. Are plans for that sled available?

What be the best method of cutting circles or shapes for acrylic with a b band saw or router table

That was awesome! I do that when I sew too. It’s the same principle in reverse. You start your seam about 1/2 inch in on the fabric edge basically same distance in as away from them edge. Otherwise with slippery fabric the machine will often eat the fabric and jams the machine which is a mess and if it’s really bad can out a whole or destroy your project. Next you stop about and inch or two down, turn it around and sew off the edge. I’m so happy this made sense right away. Its daunting enough learning to use the saw. I love your channel btw, I’ve learned so much.

Hi! I have a 1/4" Lucite rod. Can I use a Dremel saw to cut it to length? Thanks!

I generally run it backwards over the blade in a sled and that works without the flipping or the scrap.

👍 thanks

any tips in cutting out a segment of Plexi with a Dremel? Trying to put up a piece of Plexi on my French Doors to prevent the dogs from destroying the paint, and I need to cut aroung the handles for both doors.

Hey, It’s Gerry Todd from SCTV!

Great tip. Thanks. How to prevent tiny chips on the edge? Does it have anything to do with saw blade? Too old? or more teeth would help? Waxing the blade would help?

You also need to keep the height of the blade as low as possible(just 1mm above the material) and not cut too quickly.

Pretty clean cut. But how do you cut curve shapes cleanly>?

Very helpful tip though I have no plans to cutting glass.

thank you mate

I was making a router table for my home In building trades and my teacher let me use some plexiglass for the insert. It was my first time cutting plexiglass so I had no idea what to expect. The 1/4" plexiglass kept riding up on the blade and my friend who was on the other side kept freaking out. I just used a piece of scrap wood to hold the piece down. I was nervous but it was hilarious watching my friend freak out. And the plexiglass I was cutting smelled really bad when as you cut it. The shop room is massive (so we could work on framing at stuff) and the whole shop and classroom reeked of burning plastic. I of course found it hilarious but we did end up having to open up the large garage door.

What if you wanted to cut curves for rounded corners? Is there a tool that you can trim plexiglass with? Like a dremel maybe?

what saw blade are you using ?

I expect that isn't a general purpose blade. What blade is recommended?

Nice system! I always wrap both sides of the piece with blue painters tape, with the cut centered on the tape. Seems to stabilize it well. The more teeth the blade has, the smoother the cut.

What are the specs of your saw blade? I am going to try and cut down a 4' x 8' x 1/4" sheet of plexiglass to pieces 40" x 60"What else should I consider? Thanks

Very informative and easy to understand. Perfect!

I've been cutting plexi professionally for years. The best way is to use a metal cutting carbide blade and installing it in reverse.

You could get a triple chip blade for acrylic from someone like Forrest. Beautiful cuts then. ( :

Can you also use a handsaw or machinenal jigsaw or hand jigsaw ... or something that I have at home?

I noticed the Festool miter saw behind the guy in the video. If you also have a track saw, I have had good results laying plexiglass on a sheet of plywood and cutting it with the blade extended only a mm or so past the depth of the plexiglass, fully supported by the plywood and cutting just deep enough to leave a small mark on the surface of the plywood, not all the way through.

What kind of blade did you use? Too, I have a large piece to cut (35"x65") will a jigsaw work? Tips for cutting plexiglass with a jigsaw please. thanks

what kind of blade is it ? is it good the one for wood ?

i have a sheet that i wanna cut into a clipboard, i really want the rounded smooth edges. normally i run tape over the cut line to prevent cracking when i use a jigsaw blade designed only for plexi,,,, what are my steps to get a silky smoothe rounded edge?

We cut large sheets of polycarbonate several feet long with out panel saw. We found methods that work but every so often something goes awry but nothing detrimental. One of the best ways to cut plastic substrate is with a router. It will never chip.

Super tips!

Kip has really upped his game! Lafawnduh got him a nice shop!

Just use painters tape. Or leave cardboard backing on.

Very smart. Would be nice if tile could be done like this but your not supposed to have it upside down.

I thought he was working in his kitchen, so neat! Great video

Saw it all coming until the "flip". That was a good one. Thanks.

Do yours a special blade for this?

wow, there's no sawdust at all in that shop. amazing, is it just for show?

Do I need a speciall blade?

I was cutting plexiglass which was about 1/4 thick...with a jig saw with a metal blade...and the plexiglass melted through the cut...and it was hard to separate the parts..since they joined together... any suggestion ?? Thanks

what kind of table saw is that where the blade moves not the material?

Metal bandsaw works great.

Does the type of blade matter?

would you mind showing how an acrylic tube is cut?

What if I’m cutting a circle?

What kind of blade? Or does it matter?

Just use the cuter to scratch. Then break it like you cut a sheet of glass. Cheap, fast and clean

As a new homeowner, my wife and I want to skin our lanai's screened wall with acrylic panels. I watched your video to learn how to work with acrylic. Do you think drilling multiple screw holes along the edges of the panels would allow the panels to be held up with screws to the aluminum frame? We even thought we would use double-sided Flex tape between the aluminum beams and screw holes to create a softer contact and some gasket effect (hope I used that word correctly). We keep watching videos to get a sense of how much acrylic can take in stress--hanging from screw holes, or what will stick to them. If you have an opinion, thanks in advance for sharing.

What saw blade is with the table saw? It would be much more helpful should it have mentioned.. :(

The same system is used to cut some types of tiles with a tile saw.

I cut mine with razor knife, it doesn't take a lot of time or expensive equipment.

The way I cut plexiglass with chipping is to use lexan. :P