cutting polycarbonate and aluminium

D0ntstare · Post by **D0ntstare** » Mon Sep 06, 2010 5:45 pm

Hello again,

Righto I experimented with some acrylic I found today,
what a shattering thing of greatness

Back to the point I was wandering what is the best way to cut 1 and 2mm polycarb and 2mm alumunium?

I have a dremel, a junior hacksaw, stanley knife, leatherman, hand saws of varying cuts and teeth sizes, I could probably get hold of a jigsaw but it would be rather difficult in time for rfrc

Regards
Bentley

joey_picus · Post by **joey_picus** » Mon Sep 06, 2010 5:52 pm

For 1mm polycarbonate I find a few passes with a Stanley knife (or any other reasonably accurate bladed object really) works well - combined with bending it can work for 2mm polycarbonate but a Dremel might be easier (if a bit messier)

Aluminium can be cut by Dremel or by hacksaw, it's largely a matter of personal preference and how tricky the cut is (jigsaws are an option too but less accurate)

malivoirec · Post by **malivoirec** » Mon Sep 06, 2010 6:25 pm

For 1mm polycarb I always cut mine out with a big pair of scissors easilly and accurately as long as you have marked it out right. 2mm is a bit more of a struggle, but you should get the same result. For aluminium, I would recommend the above advise.

Panzerbot · Post by **Panzerbot** » Mon Sep 06, 2010 6:28 pm

for 1mm Alu you can use scissors.

D0ntstare · Post by **D0ntstare** » Mon Sep 06, 2010 6:36 pm

Thanks for all your advice and help,

Ill try both the stanley and scissors for the polycarb, as to the aluminium is it worth getting 2mm,1.5 or 1mm for a flipper?

I was going to have a 2mm poly carb base 2 mm sides 1mm roof and 2mm aluminium fipper

But if that's a bad choice then I'd love to know

Thanks
Best regards
Bentley

Jonny · Post by **Jonny** » Mon Sep 06, 2010 6:52 pm

i'm using 1mm for the base, back and sides for my flipper and aluminium 1mm for the flipper. but you could use thicker materials depending on you robots weight

video of flipper prototype: www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjrGoC9oIjA[url][/url]

joey_picus · Post by **joey_picus** » Mon Sep 06, 2010 7:50 pm

Jigsaw IV had a shell and flipper made of 1mm aluminium - actually an old project box lid I was given! - and that was strong enough for all it encountered, although it never faced a spinner and I wasn't expecting it to stand up too well against one if it did :S
(it was also easily maintained as if something went wrong bending the shell back usually fixed it

)

I would have a look at weight as with that much 2mm material you may run into issues at some stage, but as far as strength goes you'd probably be fine against all but some of the more worrying spinners with that.

widow_twanky · Post by **widow_twanky** » Mon Sep 06, 2010 7:56 pm

Personally I'd go for scissors up upto 1mm. A decent pair of tine snips will do slightly thicker but a useful little hint is that the circular saw attachment on a dremel will reasonable easily cut 3mm ali. Not sure how much this kills the blades as i've cut about 300mm with it so far.

joey_picus · Post by **joey_picus** » Mon Sep 06, 2010 8:00 pm

I've never had the blades last long enough to be killed by clogging, they usually die sooner when I cut too fast/knock the Dremel over/get the blade stuck/etc/etc

Post by **BeligerAnt** » Mon Sep 06, 2010 8:06 pm

I find the body of the Dremel gets in the way sometimes when using the slitting saw to cut flat sheet. I prefer a junior hacksaw, then clean everything up with a fine file.
A decent pair of scissors is definitely the best bet for polycarb' - a Dremel tool will just melt the plastic giving off nasty fumes and generally making a sticky mess

It does work (sort of) but other ways are simple.

A 1mm aluminium flipper will tend to bend with 150g sitting on the far end. It can be stiffened by bending the edges. RONNY uses 1mm aluminium in this way.