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How to cut thick perspex? Where to buy fibreglass?

  • 15-06-2006 11:14pm
    #1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 362 ✭✭


    Hey
    I have a little project floating around in my head and it involves cutting perspex in a curved shape, a top for a retro style coffee table to be exact. What would ye advise me to use? And also where could I get some fibleglass siutable for making bits of furniture out of? (ie a lot of it)


Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 324 ✭✭foamcutter


    Vink Plastics

    Should be able to advise on both the table top and the glassfibre.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,222 ✭✭✭\m/_(>_<)_\m/


    Hey
    I have a little project floating around in my head and it involves cutting perspex in a curved shape, a top for a retro style coffee table to be exact. What would ye advise me to use? And also where could I get some fibleglass siutable for making bits of furniture out of? (ie a lot of it)

    a jigsaw will fly through it and sand down the edges ro give a smooth finish.
    buff up with some acid-tone(spell) to bring back a transparent edge where you cut


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 513 ✭✭✭JohnDigital


    Perspex scratches easily - have you considered tempered glass?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 20,844 ✭✭✭✭cormie


    As far as I know, for a table top, you should get untempered glass. Tempered glass is for blunt objects like a ball being hit against it, but for a table top, untempered glass is better for sharp objects like a knife, fork etc falling on it.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,482 ✭✭✭RE*AC*TOR


    acid-tone(spell)


    acetone? :confused:


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 362 ✭✭Dancing_Priest


    Perspex scratches easily - have you considered tempered glass?

    Yeah, I did but I ruled it out because Im a student, living with students. So It has to be cheap and easy to work. And as for safety, it will only be supported at 3 points by fairly spikey stands and the odds are that someone will fall either fall on it or throw it and if its made of glass it will hurt someone and be expensive to replace.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,340 ✭✭✭Cmar-Ireland


    I cut 10mm perspex with a hand saw yesterday and just sanded the edge with various sandpapers for a smooth finish. You can get a totally glass finish with the proper polish. If edge transparancy is not important, polishing with steel wool will give a nice frosted look to the edges.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 655 ✭✭✭Macy


    I cut it for our splashback with a fine toothed jigsaw blade. Things to watch for is the blade getting too hot (and melting the perspex) and making sure it's well supported on all sides to avoid splintering.

    Mind you, I didn't find perspex particularly cheap - not compared to what I thought it'd be anyway.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,106 ✭✭✭Pocari Sweat


    If you are in Dublin, look through the signmaking firms and ask if any are set up with CNC routers.

    The bigger ones that have CNC, will undoubtedly get in a huge amount of all colours and all thickness of perspex and plexiglass.

    Go in when they are not busy, tell them you are a poor student, pick out the best piece of scrap offcuts which they should have a pile of, and if a CNC router operator has a spare 5 minutes, chuck him a tenner and ask if he can cut a shape out for ye.

    Even better, draw the curved outline, in an application like Adobe illustrator and put it on disc with the final size needed and he will be able to slot it in the computer and whip off a perfectly edged perspex creation in minutes.


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