You can cut, drill and install acrylic with the same woodworking tools you already have at home, although they are sometimes used in a slightly different manner. Acrylic also produces sharp edges and a fine dust when it's being cut, so you'll want to work in a well-ventilated area and take the proper safety precautions.
Acrylic can be cut by sawing or by snapping. Because it scratches fairly easily, it comes covered with a protective sheet on both sides – leave the sheet in place while you're cutting, and to simplify marking your layout lines. For cutting with a table or circular saw, blades made for use with plywood work well. You will generally use a blade with fewer teeth per inch than you would for cutting wood – the specific blade depends on the thickness of the acrylic you're cutting, so ask your dealer for recommendations. Acrylic can also be cut with a band saw or jig saw that's equipped with a metal cutting blade.
To cut acrylic by snapping, first lay out your cut line on the protective sheet, then hold or clamp a straightedge against the line. Score the sheet several times with a cutting knife made specifically for plastics, available inexpensively from your dealer, or with a utility knife. Make about six to 10 passes, making sure you run the knife all the way off the end of the cut with each pass so that the sheet is scored evenly. Center the score line over a ¾-inch wood dowel, scored side up, and press down evenly on each side to snap the sheet over the dowel.
After cutting, the edge of the sheet can be cleaned up by first drawing a scraper blade across the edge – hold it at about a 60-degree angle and draw it toward you – then finish by sanding with sandpaper wrapped around a wooden block. Begin with 60- or 100-grit paper and, depending on the degree of smoothness and translucence you want, proceed up through 400-grit wet-and-dry paper. You can further polish the edge using a buffing wheel and rubbing compound.
Drilling can be done with many of the same tools you use for drilling wood or metal, including twist drills, brad point drill bits, spade bits or a hole saw with a pilot bit. Ideally, the bit should not be overly sharp, so twist bits should be slightly dulled before using – you can use an old bit, or round a new one over slightly using a metal file or a bench grinder.
Remember that while holes drilled in wood will compress and distort slightly to accommodate fasteners that are not perfectly accurate in their placement, acrylic will crack. Therefore, your accuracy in both placing and drilling the holes is very important, and you'll get the best results from a drill press as opposed to a portable drill.
With twist drills, keep your drilling speed fairly low to avoid excessively heating and distorting the plastic – typically about 500 to 1000 RPM. Large bits, such as spade bits, will require a little more speed, up to as high as 5000 RPM. When drilling, feed the bit into the plastic slowly and evenly, and support the back of the hole with a block of wood to prevent chip-out as the bit passes through the other side.
Plastic sheets are commonly available at most home centers and hardware stores. Rods, tubes and specialized adhesives and tools, as well as more experienced advice on their use, can be found at retailers who specialize in plastics; check your Yellow Pages under "Plastics – Rods, Tubes, Sheets."
As with any material, plastics have specific uses and limitations. If you will be using them in a fence, railing, windbreak, window or other structural application, be sure to consult with your local building department for installation requirements and restrictions.
