Having just recieved my ABS Plastic from Bay Plastics for my tunnel top I was wondering what the best technique is for cutting it?

Hacksaw? Jigsaw? Sharpe knife?

Its 3mm thick by the way.

jig saw, fine blade, very low speed

coarse glass paper on a block off wood to get a straight edge. Put two layers of masking tape over at least 2 inches where you are cutting to prevent scratching the surface

[Edited on 24/2/09 by Mr Whippy]

if your doing quite a lot its well worth getting a proper plastic cutting blade made by bosch or whatever.

edit: for a jigsaw

[Edited on 24/2/09 by dinosaurjuice]

Thanks guys, should I cut on the top of the plastic or on the back side, obvisouly the jigsaw can mark the plastic if your not carefull or i've not used masking tape, but does the plastic splinter a little?

quote:

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Originally posted by Colnago_Man
Thanks guys, should I cut on the top of the plastic or on the back side, obvisouly the jigsaw can mark the plastic if your not carefull or i've not used masking tape, but does the plastic splinter a little?

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Just score it a few times with stanley knife then bend, it will snap with a good clean edge. Practice on an offcut first.

Only works for straight cuts though.

Fine toothed jigsaw blades aren't so good for ABS, they generate enough heat to fuse the plastic back together behind the blade. A fairly coarse blade works best IME, and don't try force the jigsaw to speed up the cut.

ABS edges can be made pretty tidy just by dragging a very sharp blade along them, but a flat sanding block and suitably fine paper will give the best finish.

A jigsaw just makes a mess have a look at this thread : HERE

I'd use a dremel cutting wheel and then file/sand it back

At work we just treat it like hard board - fine toothed bandsaw (reserved for plastics only as it knocks the set off the blades) , circular saw for the thicker stuff at home wejust use a jigsaw steadily!

I used Piranah jigsaw blades to cut mine with a low speed. Very coarse and sharp, designed for rapid wood cutting.

No messiness or hassle.

David

quote:

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Originally posted by Slater
Just score it a few times with stanley knife then bend, it will snap with a good clean edge. Practice on an offcut first.

Only works for straight cuts though.

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And i found it quicker and easier if you used a straight edge.

new tunnel

started new dash

Just to add closure to my own thread - most techniques cut this plastic very cleanly. A hacksaw or jigsaw at low speed produced a decent if a little wobbly cut.
But using a sharp knife and scoring the plastic a number of times along the cut easily gave the cleanest staightest cut.
It is also the easiest to perform as it can be difficult to clamp a large sheet of plastic is such a position that it can be cut easily with the jigsaw.
Using the sharp knife technique I just put it down on the living room carpet.