How To Drill Hole In Acrylic Sheet

To drill a hole in acrylite sheet greater than 1 25 4 mm a circle cutter may be used.

How to drill hole in acrylic sheet.

Here is a video on how to properly drill through acrylic plexiglass. First you need to drill a small diameter pilot hole to get started. Ensure you go slow stop often to cool the drill and always support the sheet. Put the blade through the hole to start the cut then saw around the circumference.

For optimum cutting with circle cutters consider the following recommendations. The tip must scrape the acrylic not gouge it. Align the tip of the drill bit with the location that you need to drill the hole through the acrylic sheet. This will avoid cracking which may damage the entire sheet.

Mark or scribe the circle and drill a 1 4 inch pilot hole slightly inside the perimeter. Use a saber saw or jigsaw with a fine toothed blade for larger circles. If you just drill a pilot hole then jump right to a big size bit you will likely crack the plastic. While you are drilling through the plexiglass sheet the friction would produce intense heat and the bits would cause lots of plastic shavings around the hole especially if the sheet is thick.

However the likelihood of melting chipping cracking or breaking the acrylic is much higher. The pilot hole should be at least 1 2 the diameter of the final hole. The cutter bit must also be modified to accommodate the material properties of acrylic. For example to drill a 1 2 inch hole you can make a pilot hole by beginning with a 1 4 bit drill and then moving to a 1 2 bit drill.

Step 5 spray water on the drill bit with the water bottle to keep the drill bit cool and provide a smooth finish to the drilled hole. Before you embark on drilling the main hole you should consider starting with a pilot hole. It is possible to drill acrylic with regular metal drill bits.