Drilling Plastic Sheet

The special tip design carves through the plastic not for use with wood or metal.

Drilling plastic sheet.

This includes portable drills drill presses lathes automatic multiple spindle drilling units cnc routers and machining centers. With the necessary equipment ensure you practice the drilling process on smaller pieces of plexiglass sheet before you work on the main sheet. Before you drill the acrylic sheet make sure you place a wooden block or sheet underneath to stop the bit breaking through the bottom of. 7 start the drilling process gradually into the polycarbonate sheet.

Several manufacturers offer drill bits designed especially for plastics. To drill your plexiglass sheet you may consider acquiring a plexiglass drill to simplify the process. Also always reduce the drill speed as the drill bit exits the material. So that it becomes easy for you to know the precise point to drill hence preventing instances of damaging the material.

Ensure you go slow stop often to cool the drill and always support the sheet. At this point you ought to have marked all the spots where you need to drill. Any commercially available power driven equipment is acceptable for drilling acrylic sheets. A brief shop tip on how to drill clean holes in acrylic and other plastics.

The best drill bits for this job are titanium coated and will remain shorp through this and many more jobs. It takes a special drill bit to properly drill through plexiglas lucite acrylite or perspex acrylic sheet. Click on the link here yo but a set of titanium coated drill bits for drilling acrylic and plastic. Place the sheet on a flat surface that supports it well and which the drill can run in to for example a wood board.

When drilling acrylic it is important that the sheet is well supported. Standard metal drill bits will work but without extensive modification the metal drill bit will crack and chip the brittle acrylic sheet. Once the drill is on begin to drill the polycarbonate sheet. Drilling holes in acrylic requires the use of a drill bit specially designed for use with plastics.

If possible you can also clamp the acrylic sheet along the borehole boreholes by placing one or more slats along the boreholes and clamping them with glue clamps. However the likelihood of melting chipping cracking or breaking the acrylic is much higher. It is possible to drill acrylic with regular metal drill bits. Alternatively you can acquire plexiglass drill bits that are compatible with normal drillers.

Before drilling it s best to clamp down the plastic securely to a solid surface and back up the piece you are drilling with a spare piece of plywood underneath.