General hints for working with acrylic sheet

Do's

• Keep masking on as long as possible through your fabrication operations.
• Wear safety glasses when working with power tools.
• Wear gloves when handling large sheets to prevent cuts.
• Use drill bits, carbide-tipped circular saw blades, and router bits designed or reground for acrylics.
• Make sure all your tools are sharp.
• Use water as a coolant when cutting sheets over 1/4" (6.0 mm) thick or drilling sheets over 3/16" (4.5 mm) thick.
• Use the right thickness for glazing panels and ensure sufficient rabbet depth to permit sheet deflection and thermal contraction without disengagement.
• Allow 1/16" per linear foot (0.5 cm per linear meter) for expansion in glazing applications.
• Use plenty of water when cleaning acrylic sheet to help prevent scratching.

Don'ts

• Don't store acrylic sheet near radiators, steam pipes, or in direct sunlight.
• Don't leave masking on if it will expose the sheet to the outdoors (sun and rain).
• Don't install large sheets with bolts…frame them.
• Don't mark with a punch marker.
• Don't use saw blades that have side-set teeth. Saw teeth should be carbide tipped with 0°-15° rake and slight radial clearance.
• Don't bring the material into direct contact with heaters.
• Don't subject the sheet to high surface temperature during polishing.
• Don't use glass cleaning sprays, scouring compounds, or solvents like acetone, gasoline, benzene, carbon tetrachloride, or lacquer thinner.
• Don't heat acrylic sheet in a kitchen oven.