Shopsmith Forums

I need to cut a piece of 1/4" thick plexiglass. It will be about 7" diameter. Have any of you used your bandsaw to do this? What size blade and what speed setting do you suggest?

Slowest speed. Due to heat build up, I'd use a 1/4" or 3/8" blade. When you buy plexiglass, it usually has a protective paper covering. Leave it on until the cuts are complete. For some reason, it seems to help cool the blade.In the absence of the paper, I have put packing tape on the top side. That helps, too.

S Brian wrote:I need to cut a piece of 1/4" thick Plexiglass. It will be about 7" diameter. Have any of you used your bandsaw to do this? What size blade and what speed setting do you suggest?

I cut it on the bandsaw with a 10-14 tooth blade and very slow speed (250 on the PowerPro) with great success. I have been looking at a dedicated Plexiglass blade for the tablesaw but they are too expensive for me to justify when the place I buy the sheet material will do most straight cuts for free.


A more detailed explaination on how to cut Plexiglass
http://www.eplastics.com/Plastic/Plastics_Library/How-to-Cut-Plexiglass

The tables talked about in the article can be fould here, they give details of the proper blade for different types of saws.
https://system.netsuite.com/core/media/media.nl?id=7482&c=621686&h=9843e380931a066ece38&_xt=.pdf&ck=GBSUFBqcAbXG9lJj&vid=GBSZ0Z55AcQ1M30q&cktime=105498