Drilling acrylic

[jason7570]

does anyone know what the best way to drill 1/4" cast acrylic? I need 125 holes for a frag rack and was wondering what the best way to achieve this.

 

[Rjramos]

How big are the holes gonna be? 3/8", 1/2"?
I have done a plexiglass drip plate with my drill press. However, the first one cracked on me and I had to do over. So the second time, I pulled out my torch and applied heat to the bit, not too much cause you want it to cut not just melt through. This prevented the chipping in each hole and allowed me to use less pressure thus saving the entire piece from breaking. I'll be chiming in cause I wanna know how else people are doing this.

 

[jason7570]

Yeah, I tried a regular drill bit and pretty much just chipped like crazy. I'll have to try the heat approach. 1/2"
Thanks

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Use a lubricant. Dawn dish soap works great.
You may need to be able to controll the speed of the drill.

 

[justingraham]

Use a lubricant. Dawn dish soap works great.
You may need to be able to controll the speed of the drill.

Go small them big center the holes with a smaller drill bit then med size then the size u want if not well chip baby chip if ur lucky if not crack baby crack

 

[justingraham]

Use a lubricant. Dawn dish soap works great.
You may need to be able to controll the speed of the drill.

I did it again always tagging u in another persons thread stop following me

 

[benpoole28]

Use a step drill bit, unibit is a brand name and the best ones.

. This is a #2. No chipping at any speed. Starts at 3/16 and steps up to 1/2.

 

[AdamD76]

I use a 2 flute end mill in a CNC, but an end mill in a rotozip works just as well. use lots of lube for best results. I use oil based ( canola oil)