Best way to cut acrylic

[Dtfnemo]

Hello everyone, does anyone know what would be the best way way to cut some acrylic. I recently accuired some of those acrylic covers you see in retail stores at the registers. They are pretty sturdy and thin.

Im going to try my luck and build some lids for my two tanks to mainly help with evaporation. I had a bio cube before and the evaporation rate was nothing compared to what im dealing with now, and also to help keep my tanks a bit warmer since I'm in Florida and keep my AC on the low end.

So I guess my question is what should I use to cut it and what should I use to smooth the edges down, like since its thin would a saw kind of melt it instead of cut it?
Also should I cut it to sit on top of the edges of the tank or a little bit smaller to have it go inside the tank and sit on top of some of those plastic lid holders (I already have some around somewhere)

Im also planing on leaving an opening on the back for gas exchange and easy top off.

The tanks im building the the lids for are small all in one tanks.

Any feedback is appreciated.

 

[KC's CNC Creations]

CNC router with an O flute bit.

 

[TheReaperOfMars]

A CNC router would be nice, but most people don't have one. So really what you would want is a high tooth count saw blade for whatever saw you decide to use. I sometimes use a "metal cutting" bit in a jigsaw if I need to quickly hack off a small section of a sheet to fit in my laser or something, but it doesn't leave a great finish.

Long story short, get a hand router if you can. You can get one pretty cheaply and do some amazing things with it.

 

[Crustaceon]

I actually use a table saw with a 90 tooth blade (Diablo polished finish). It removes material so fast it doesn’t have a change TO melt. I can then scrape a fresh razor blade across the edge to remove the saw marks.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

If you have a hand held router you can cut out templates with ply wood and use a flush cut router bit to cut out the acrylic. If you make the template right, you wont have to do any clean up.

 

[Vwluv10338]

You can also score and snap. Then sad down the edge. Worked fine for me

 

[Dtfnemo]

Dam I would love a cnc router but I probably won't have any other use for it after that.

Thank you everyone for the feed back, gave me good ideas I might start on this tomorrow. Fingers cross I don't mess it up.

 

[Elder1945 Verified Sponsor]

A handheld router works amazing, Table saw, Chop saw all work as well but I would go with a handheld. If you are cutting thinner material a trim router will work as well.

CNC is great and all but almost everything can be done by hand it just takes a bit more time.

 

[Elder1945 Verified Sponsor]

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4FiN46mPTtkJxzRXJY21lQ

 

[MikeTheNewbie]

I also cut it with a 90 teeth diablo disk for my table saw.I have tried both acrylic and polycarbonate. The acrylic kept bending for me. Looks like the humid side expands while the other side doesn't and that causes the bending. Polycarbonate didnt give me that problem.
What i haven't figured out is why dont acrylic sump and tanks bend like lids.

 

[Crustaceon]

I also cut it with a 90 teeth diablo disk for my table saw.I have tried both acrylic and polycarbonate. The acrylic kept bending for me. Looks like the humid side expands while the other side doesn't and that causes the bending. Polycarbonate didnt give me that problem.
What i haven't figured out is why dont acrylic sump and tanks bend like lids.

I cut mine super shallow and flipped the panel over for a second cut. I also worried about the blade grabbing the material and launching it at my gut.

 

[G Santana]

I use a table saw with a 90 tooth blade.
If you go this route, buy a blade with the most teeth that you can afford, it will give you the cleanest edge possible.
If you need to polish the edges, I use map gas torch and it polishes the edges like glass