How and how to cut polycarbonate at home: tools, cutting rules, methods

Polycarbonate is a thermoplastic polymer that has firmly occupied its niche in the building materials market. Among the positive qualities is that highly skilled workers are not needed for work. In order to cut the material correctly, you need to know how and with what to cut polycarbonate.

Choosing a tool for cutting polycarbonate

To cut, process and use a polymer, you need to know its properties. Sheet polycarbonate is a type of plastic that differs significantly from similar materials such as polyethylene, PVC, PVD, including glass. It has high strength, combined with extraordinary lightness and toughness. Weather resistant.

Its production is carried out using extrusion and injection lines according to specified dimensions, structure and density. The softened mass is forced through a flat-slot device. As a result, a polymer plate of the same thickness is formed at all points. The performance characteristics of the finished sheet depend on the variety of raw materials and auxiliary additives used.

Of the minuses, there is a probability of destruction from exposure to UV radiation and high reflectivity, excessive transparency. Polymer with low abrasion resistance. It has a significant thermal gap.

There are three types of polycarbonate for a certain type of work: monolithic, cellular, profiled. Implemented in sheets. It has a wide range of applications: apartments, private houses, personal plots.

The product is quite innovative, so many do not have enough information on how to cut polycarbonate. The choice is determined by the properties of the material and the thickness of the plate. For this, various types of tools are used:

• Bulgarian;
• jigsaw;
• hacksaws for wood and metal, scissors;
• construction knife.

To cut polycarbonate, you need to know some properties of polymers. Monolithic polycarbonate is a thermoplastic substance without voids. It is obtained by the condensation of acetone and phenol. A wide range differs in relief, color, density and light-conducting properties.

Cellular polycarbonate consists of two thin sheets with remote longitudinal partitions. There is air in the molded channels. Due to this, the insulating qualities are increased, but the weight is reduced.

Profiled or corrugated sheets have high light transmission and a wide range of temperature fluctuations. Most often used for glazing roofs, covering greenhouses. They are used as corrosion-resistant cladding of buildings and coating structures.

Reading: Summer shower made of polycarbonate

angle grinder

This tool is suitable for processing large polycarbonate monolithic slabs in straight lines. You can use cutting wheels designed to work with metal, namely aluminum, as they are the least susceptible to heat. You need to choose an angle grinder with a speed controller. To make any even cut, you can even use a small machine. Bulgarian at low speeds does not tear the material and does not leave burrs. The optimal disc diameter is 125 mm.

Angle grinder allows you to form radius surfaces, perform not only straight, but also curved cutting, thus realizing the most interesting ideas. The main thing that is required when working is to remember that an angle grinder is a highly resourceful machine.

With insufficient experience, the sheet is easy to spoil. It is better to pre-train on unnecessary scraps. With an angle grinder, it is equally practical to cut both monolithic slabs and a honeycomb structure, including complex curved configurations.

Another handy electric tool is a circular saw. A disk with a small sharp tooth is installed on it. There are special discs for working with plastic, as well as metal. Sawing is carried out according to the same principle as working with an angle grinder. The tool is turned on, speed is gained, the base plate is pressed against the edge of the material, a cut is made with a smooth movement “away from you”.

The disadvantage of the method with a circular saw can be considered the absence of disk speed controllers on most models. Among the advantages - variable depth of cut. This function allows you to cut not one sheet, but several at once in a package, which is very beneficial for large amounts of work. For example, when arranging greenhouses. Security measures are the same as when working with a grinder.

Electric jigsaw

Probably, many of the craftsmen have repeatedly thought about how to cut polycarbonate at home. An electric jigsaw is the most suitable for cutting material with a complex configuration, cuts with rounded elements. For example, the arch of the side wall of the greenhouse. It is safer than a circular saw or grinder. The speed increases sharply, the labor intensity decreases in comparison with cutting with a knife.

An electric jigsaw is used to process both monolithic and cellular polycarbonate. When there is a need to make a straight cut along the honeycomb sheet, marking is not required. It can be cut not only with a jigsaw, but also with a knife. In such a situation, the honeycomb itself will be the guideline. You can cut several sheets at once by folding them and placing plywood.

When choosing a file, you need to pay attention to the shape of the teeth. Teeth with a divorce are designed to work with wood. They will tear the polycarbonate cut line, rendering the cut part unusable. Need a metal file with fine, frequent teeth, straight or wavy. More teeth means better cut quality. To avoid burrs, various defects and notches, a new canvas is needed. It must be sharp, correctly and securely fixed in the tool.

Scissors and hacksaws for metal

It happens that in the courtyard, except for a hacksaw, there is no power tool. In this case, the option is chosen, how to cut polycarbonate manually. First, the polymer to be cut should be fixed. The hacksaw blade must be new, without flaws. It is set at an angle of approximately 30 degrees. The direction of the cut being made is “towards you”.

Hacksaw for metal You can cut small parts. Long cuts are made with a fine-toothed wood saw. This method is good when you need to cut polycarbonate for greenhouses - straight cuts of different lengths. Curvilinear cutting with a hacksaw is not possible.

Scissors, like hacksaws, are used to cut only a monolithic sheet, the cellular one is strongly deformed by this tool. Industrial equipment remains the most reliable and efficient. Manual cutting is much inferior to processing with laser and milling equipment. It should be noted that the curly cutting of a monolithic slab is carried out only on CNC milling machines. The laser does not cut, but melts the cast sheet due to the peculiarities of its chemical structure.

Knife

An ordinary stationery knife is suitable for cutting. A construction knife is also used, it is more convenient and ergonomic. They cut a sheet of small thickness, mainly 3 mm. The knife can cut cellular polycarbonate up to 10 mm.

Before cutting, the sharpness of the knife is checked, if necessary, the dull elements of the retractable blade are removed. A polycarbonate sheet is cut in a straight line with a rule or ruler. First, an incision is made, and then the blade is slowly and carefully guided “towards itself” along the marking line. From the first run, the material may not be cut, then the method has to be repeated until the result is obtained.

Important! Do not break or bend the sheet, this leads to significant deformation of the edge.

How to cut polycarbonate

From industrial equipment, special types of lasers and milling machines are used for this purpose. Since a specific tool is selected for each type of material, it is important to know how to cut polycarbonate yourself. Step-by-step instruction:

• selection of the appropriate tool;
• clearing the workplace;
• arrangement of the site using even, smooth materials;
• laying the sheet on the prepared surface;
• sketch transfer, marking with a marker;
• then cutting is carried out with the selected type of tool.

Preparing the site and tools

Immediately before cutting, you need to perform preparatory work - organize a workplace. To do this, use a standard chipboard sheet, after clearing the site. It should not have stones and mounds. Under the chipboard, bars of the same thickness are laid. A board for movement is laid on top of the cut plate so as not to deform the polycarbonate.

There needs to be some order in the workplace. On one side is the material to be cut. On the other hand, finished parts are folded according to size and nomenclature, which will allow you not to re-sort the parts during installation.

Particular attention should be paid to electrical safety. The power supply cable must be undamaged, connected and branched in standard connectors intended for this purpose. Avoid laying cables in the walking area to avoid foot entanglement. At the work site, it is necessary to provide for a quick shutdown of the power supply.

We apply the markup

We draw up a computer cutting map or a marking scheme on paper in compliance with a convenient scale. If necessary, we make curvilinear templates.

We transfer all dimensions to the material using a rule, a long metal ruler or tape measure. It is better to mark the markup with a black marker, followed by the removal of all lines and marks from the finished parts after cutting.

We cut sheets

Turning on the angle grinder, set the required speed of the disc using the regulator. With a smooth movement, moving the tool “away from you”, you need to cut through the material along the previously marked lines. Having finished cutting, you should check the evenness of the cut line, remove chips and dust from the cells.

Important! When working with a grinder, be sure to wear safety glasses to protect your eyes from flying chips.

To cut with an electric jigsaw, polycarbonate is laid on a solid, flat surface, rigidly fixed (for example, with clamps) to prevent vibration during the cutting process. The jigsaw is brought to the starting point of the cut, where a notch was previously made with a knife. The base plate of the tool is pressed against the sheet being cut.

The jigsaw is turned on, the required speed of the saw blade is set. The tool is gently fed “away from you” along the marking line. You need to cut slowly, paying special attention to curved segments. The cut fragment is cleaned of chips and dust. If necessary, irregularities are corrected with a construction knife.

Cutting large-area plates, especially honeycomb polycarbonate, is best done with a more high-performance tool. Nevertheless, the knife is useful for removing burrs, trimming various irregularities, and more accurately fitting the cut parts to the specified formats.

For the process to be successful, you must adhere to the following rules:

1. Place the plate to be cut on a flat, vibration-free surface.
2. Lay the sheets with the protective layer up, the same applies to mirror and laminated boards.
3. Do not remove the protective film until the end of processing.
4. For cellular polycarbonate, it is necessary to provide a protective edge.
5. In order not to damage or deform the sheet during operation, a board of sufficient length, at least 100 mm wide, is laid on its surface. You can only step on it.
6. Parallel to the cut line, two boards are placed on both sides so as not to damage the polymer, and for the convenience of work, they raise the plate in the cut area.
7. If it is necessary to move around polycarbonate, a boardwalk is constructed that will distribute the load.
8. To cut small pieces of polymer, it is more convenient to use a workbench or a large table.

Polycarbonate as a material is intensively used in the advertising and construction industries. High technological properties make it possible to use it as a full-fledged alternative to traditional glass. To properly cut polycarbonate, it will not be superfluous to remember the proverb: measure seven times, cut one.

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