Cutting Sintra

[Murray]

Does anyone have any tips on how to accurately cut 3mm Sintra? I can cut a few pieces accurately but when it comes to cutting several hundred 6" X 6" pieces it gets a little onerous and tiring to say the least. Im using an olfa knife and a ruler now but theres gotta be a better way.
We have a Keen Cut but the blade is too flexible to cut Sintra so the edges of the Sintra are not square and it also veers off the perpendicular so the pieces are not actually square or uniform either. We used to have a guillotine (paper cutter) which might have done a great job but it has long since departed. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

Router, tracksaw, or Panelsaw is your best bet

 

[Johnny Best]

Table saw.
Or from your plastic supplier.

 

[Gino]

If your distributor can't cut them down for you, find another distributor.

With a little 'tabletop' table saw and a fence, you could knock them out in 1/2 a day.

 

[T_K]

At that point, I order them precut from Allied Plastics. You pay a bit more per piece than if you cut them yourself. But I'd rather save the time and have neat, clean edges.

 

[petepaz]

razor cutter. keeps with in .010" tolerance

 

[DerbyCitySignGuy]

Use the heavy duty blades in your KeenCut and make two or three passes instead of trying to go through in one.

 

[Gino]

Using those cutters is sure a lotta elbow grease for a few hundred pieces. I'd either rent one from Home Depot or spend maybe $200 bucks or so and now have it for anything down the pike.

 

[petepaz]

it is a lot of elbow grease but it works and i can usually go through in one pass. just another option added to the other mentioned above

 

[studio 440]

PL-60, SawTrax 60 Tooth Premium Plastics Blade

 

[Murray]

Router, tracksaw, or Panelsaw is your best bet

Thanks for the tip, I'd love to have a panel saw but i cant afford the dust in my shop, maybe when i get a second room going

 

[Murray]

Table saw.
Or from your plastic supplier.

Thanks for the input, I actually have a table saw but I have to take it outside to use it because of the dust.

 

[Murray]

If your distributor can't cut them down for you, find another distributor.

With a little 'tabletop' table saw and a fence, you could knock them out in 1/2 a day. View attachment 133485

Thank you for your reply! Since i cant really use the saw in my shop, getting my supplier to do it is probably my best option indeed.

 

[Murray]

At that point, I order them precut from Allied Plastics. You pay a bit more per piece than if you cut them yourself. But I'd rather save the time and have neat, clean edges.

Thanks for your input, I think i'll give that a try until I can find a good way to do them in-house.

 

[Murray]

razor cutter. keeps with in .010" tolerance

Looks like a slick machine but Im guessing it does about the same thing that my Keen Cut does, which is ok but not as consistent as i'd like

 

[Murray]

Use the heavy duty blades in your KeenCut and make two or three passes instead of trying to go through in one.

Thanks for the tip, I didnt know that I could get a heavier blade, Ill definitely look into it!

 

[Ted Borowsky]

Best solution for cutting 3mm sintra is the Keencut SteelTraK. Goes through it like butter. Let me know if you want to see a demo

 

[ams]

I use a knife and ruler, but I want to get a shear, that would make it so easy and accurate.

 

[Ted Borowsky]

Shears give a nice factory finish edge and is the most efficient way of producing blanks. However, should you need to cut to the edge of the graphic, the SteelTraK is easier to line up..

 

[signbrad]

My practice for cutting large numbers of blanks has been to stack the material so that more than one blank is cut at the same time. Expanded PVC sheet cuts easily and cleanly in stacks, and a table saw is ideal for this.

Generally, I will precut the material into manageable sizes first, say 24x48, 32x48 or similar. Then, I stack the material three, four or even five or six layers deep, wrapping the edges of the stacks with 2-inch masking tape to hold them together. I then cut these stacked pieces into strips the width of the blanks, in this case 6 inches, so that I end up with stacks that are 6x48. I apply tape to both long edges of these stacked strips to hold them securely together, and then push them through the saw at right angles to produce the final blank size. This method can allow you to cut hundreds of blanks in a short time.

I often use double-sided tape to hold the stacks together as an alternative to masking tape. The tape needs to be thin and not so aggressive as to create a problem when pulling blanks apart. And it must not leave a residue that requires removal. This would be the problem using spray adhesive, which I have also tried. Years ago I successfully used carpet tape to hold layers together, but at our shop we have a white crepe paper tape that works well, which we also use for holding blanks onto a board for painting. It holds the blanks in place, but removes easily.

Back in the days when channel letter faces were all cut out by hand, it was common to cut out three or four of the same letters at the same time by layering the acrylic sheet.

A shear with a stop gauge can allow you to cut many PVC blanks quickly. However, a shear can leave a "pinched' edge that some find objectionable.

Brad in Kansas City