Cutting acrylic case - Need help

[rgroves]

I bought an Acrylic case from SVC, (the unassembled non-uv reactive) and the fan holes are not completely cut out. They are slotted instead of fully cut out circles. What I want to do is remove any and all material from the fan hole to let as much unrestricted airflow as possible.

I've tried using a Rotozip on a piece of scrap (extra drive face plate) and it did not do such a good job.... parts of it shattered, it was hard to control, and a general pain in the a$$ to work with. I fear the Rotozip will just chew up hte case and leave me with a worthless piece of junk.

Does anyone have other suggestions??? I have available a Dremel and a varialbe Speed drill, but do not know what tips or parts I need to cut Acrylic with.

Please help......

 

[rgroves]

bump...need help.... PLEASE

 

[BA]

coping saw

 

[Ymeister19]

coping saw is a bad idea what u need my friend is a whole saw, get one at ur local hardware thats the right size put it in a drill preferably a plug in because they have more torque and will cut it cleaner, then lay another piece of plexy glass on the side where u want the hole and drill through it first and then thrue ur case where u want the hole, and then into a piece of wood underneath and u will have perfect fan holes

 

[kursplat]

get a crap piece of plastic to practice on. you might be suprised at what alot of heat (hole saw) will do to plastic .
if you just have the tabs between the slots to do , use the copping saw .
good luck

 

[huesmann]

How about you do this: get a very thin drill bit (1/32" or smaller) and drill small holes in the plastic around the edges of the "grille." You can probably then cut through the last bits of plastic with a knife of some sort or probably just punch it out with a piece of wood.

 

[rgroves]

I think I'll try to hole saw idea. I've got a 18v Ryobi cordless drill. It's got pretty much the same torque as any corded drill I've ever owned.

I guess a better idea would be to use a drill press and clamp the piece down to the table (protecting against scratches, of course). This way I can go straight in and out, and have more control over the cutting.

If I was still working at my former job we did business with a guy with CO2 lasers, and he could cut it for me easily. However, that's not an option anymore....

 

[Ymeister19]

the hole saw will work great i moded my old dinosaur case to have 7 fan holes in it in this way without any problems as long as ur carefull the acrlic should be the same make sure the teeth on the whole saw are as small as you can get and itll cut it like butter