Using a dremel for cutting acrylic?

littlepaulio
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Using a dremel for cutting acrylic? Nov 1, 2015 5:18:59 GMT

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Post by littlepaulio on Nov 1, 2015 5:18:59 GMT

Hi,
I'm Paul, and I just joined this forum. I bought Mark's kindle book a few months ago and have finally decided to start work on a panel.

In his book he describes using a hacksaw for cutting and what I presume is a cordless drill the drilling.
I own both, and my hacksaw is a tenon saw, which produces very smooth finishes.

However, only a couple of days ago I purchased a Dremel 3000 which was on sale in B&QQ, and I've been amazed by the versatility of it. With the right add-ons it can be used as a saw, a drill, a sander, a buffer and polisher and even a router. Since it only came with a couple of basic add-ons I've only really used it as a sander (which it was extremely effective at). I was thinking with the router add-on and some router bits, it would be excellent at making quite a variety of shapes and sizes of holes in one go. In addition, as it has 5 speed settings, up to 3200rpm, it would be excellent at drilling holes as well. The larger holes would be beyond it I think. As I said already, I have a cordless drill but also a power drill- I'm presuming this is overkill and would either melt the acrylic or crack it.

I'm just curious if anyone else has used a Dremel for these purposes, and if so, were their attempts successful.

Cheers,
Paul

Paul

MarkH
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Posts: 572

Using a dremel for cutting acrylic? Nov 1, 2015 8:55:26 GMT

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Post by MarkH on Nov 1, 2015 8:55:26 GMT

Hello Paul. I have not tried this but I guess heat would be the enemy, as always. Can the Dremel run at variable speed? This is the answer with drilling, you need to sometimes slow down and let it take its time. Likewise with hand-sawing, you just have to go slow and steady. I think there are differences in the acrylic too, depending on where you source it. I have found the acrylic from plasticsheets.com seems more workable than the stuff I got from Homebase, so it's easier to drill safely. Or maybe I've just gotten used to doing it

MarkH

littlepaulio
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Posts: 12

Using a dremel for cutting acrylic? Nov 1, 2015 15:35:31 GMT

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Post by littlepaulio on Nov 1, 2015 15:35:31 GMT

Nov 1, 2015 8:55:26 GMT MarkH said:

Hello Paul. I have not tried this but I guess heat would be the enemy, as always. Can the Dremel run at variable speed? This is the answer with drilling, you need to sometimes slow down and let it take its time. Likewise with hand-sawing, you just have to go slow and steady. I think there are differences in the acrylic too, depending on where you source it. I have found the acrylic from plasticsheets.com seems more workable than the stuff I got from Homebase, so it's easier to drill safely. Or maybe I've just gotten used to doing it

Yeah, the Dremel has 5 variable speed settings. Following more research, heat definitely would be the enemy. I could always keep plenty of water on hand. I also have no intention of buying official Dremel branded accessories as they cost an arm and a leg. I should have plenty of extra acrylic left over to experiment with my tenon saw, coping saw (the coping saw is a hacksaw that lets you adjust the angle of cut on the fly, sorry if you already knew this, this is all new to me!) and the Dremel method. For drilling holes most people recommend buying a hole saw bit for my power drill. Again I'll be going the cheap route as I'll need a number of different sizes, and in Ireland they seem to go for around €20 a bit- I'll take my chances elsewhere thank you.

You were right about differences in acrylic types too- Extruded acrylic shatters and cracks very easily compared to polycarbonate. I'll check out that site plasticsheets.com, hopefully with the weak Euro it will still work out cheaper than buying from a local hardware shop in Galway. I'll let you know how I get on.

Thanks Mark,

Paul

Paul