How do you guys cut polycarbonate? I’m trying to find the best way to do it at school tomorrow thanks
we use a dermal rotary tool with a regular cutting blade and get nice results
At my school we use a band saw.
Look at this post for information about drilling holes and cutting polycarb.
We use a hacksaw. I’ve never used anything else, so I can’t comment on any other method.
Clamp a straight edge to the polycarbonate and score it several times where you want the cut to be with a sharp knife, like a box cutter. Move the polycarbonate to the edge of a table, positioning the score line to be in line with the table edge. Bend the the polycarbonate down which is hanging over the edge of the table and it should break at the score line.
We use a dremel but it creates jagged edges because the in and out method we need to use to prevent it from melting. I hear that VEX-legal polycarbonate is able to be just cut by scissors. I’ve used scissors to create holes in polycarbonate when our team was desperate to create holes and our drill ran out of batteries.
I just use a craft knife, I find that saws leave a much rougher edge
My team just uses the bandsaw in school’s shop, but I’ve seen our X team cut polycarbonate with an X-Acto knife in a pinch.
Than you but doesn’t a dremal make it stink
Uh stink? No i’m pretty sure the dremel doesn’t make it stink if you do it correctly, but it does leave the area with white dust from the plastic sheet covering the plexiglass.
All these fancy tools… we just whip out a pair of scissors 
does the job nicely
We use one of these: http://preview.tinyurl.com/77ow5kl
or a sharp pair of Sheet metal shears. I have broken a pair or two of cheap scissors.
My team uses a laser cutter. It leaves the edges kinda brown but it is very precise and cuts perfectly.
:eek: Jealous :eek:
Next some team is going to come along and say that they use a water jet cutter, except instead of water they use melted-down money, or something.
Our team uses a dremel, scissors, a band saw, or a table saw, depending on where we are and what we have available.
The table saw by far provides the straightest cut, but the band saw is the easiest to use if you want a curve.
Scissors work well for straight-ish cuts close to the edges of the sheet, but tin snips are even easier to use.
We have a plastic/glass scorer/cutter, but I have not personally used it so I cannot report on it, although it seems from other teams that it works quite well. Polycarb is rather bendy so it will be harder to score and snap than acrylic, but it should still be snappable.
Dremels are more suited to cutting axles than polycarb as it does tend to send polycarb dust everywhere and is hard to cut straight lines with.
either with the Scroll Saw or CNC
My grandpa has a water jet cutter ive used before
our laser works very well. just draw what you want in CAD and hit go. the only thing is the lexans fumes are poisonous if you inhale large amounts.
Use a ban saw they work well at cutting any plastic. I have used it to cut lexan polycarbonate.