Cutting plastic

[Star1pup]

I have a sheet of 1/8" plastic that might be Lexan. I am thinking about using my sabre saw to cut it as I can slow the speed down. Is there a special blade I should use? Any other advice?? I know that plastic can melt and cause a mess around the cut if you let it heat up.

Should I use masking tape and cut throught that?

[DaNgEr_KiTtY]

i would normally use a circular saw with a fine tooth blade to cut something like that. whatever you use just take it slow & that will prevent melting. prolly use a medium tooth blade for jigsaw. if you have a good straight edge you can also cut it with several passes of a utility knife or razor. after several passes you can snap it off like when you cut regular glass.

[machinemaker]

usually the two types of plactic sheet you commonly find is either acrylic or polycarbonate, (lexan). you can tell the difference in that the polycarbonate can be bent and not shatter. As a matter of fact you can bend it like sheet metal cold. It also cuts with out shattering. I don't think that you can score it a break it though.

[DaNgEr_KiTtY]

welp sounds like we both agree then that its safe to cut it with a saw without messing it up. one thing i may not have made clear thought is that you dont need to slow down the speed of your saw but rather the speed of the cutting process.