Class on working with acrylic/plexiglas sheets?

Hi, all: if there is enough interest, I would be willing to teach a class on working with acrylic and plexiglas sheets. Could definitely cover how to cut, shape, assemble and finish. Depending on what people want to do, it could be as simple as how to cut a piece of plex to make a picture frame, to making a small acrylic box to put over your babe ruth signed baseball, to making sculptures with planar and curvilinear pieces, to working with tube or rods. Most of the tools in the woodshop and the metal shop lend themselves well to working with acrylics, so don’t limit your thinking - just share what it is you want to create and lets see if we can learn from each other!

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I"d love to take that class!

I’d be interested in fab’ing 5 sided enclosures with beveled polished edges and
more

I have acrylic/ plexi - a class on bubble free clean cutting / assembly would be great!

I’m interested.

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There’s an acrylic bending tool i donated in the laser area that may help with your class

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I’m interested as well.

I have misc acrylic laying around that could be used for the class - not a huge amount but a start.

I would be interested in this class.

A most welcome class!

I am interested as well.

I’d be VERY interested in the class!

I would be interested

To figure out what we should focus on, it would really be helpful to know
what your interest in working with plastics is? (Except for Laser cutting
:slight_smile: What is it you’ve done but would like to do easier next time, or what
is it you imagine doing?

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For me it is all the steps involved in putting a 5 sided box together with clear (as clear as possible) beveled corners.

mostly in 1/4" to 3/" thick clear.

proper techniques, adhesives, etc.

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testing on recycled plastic and eventually I would like to remake one of these or at least modify one preciousplastic.com…

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I’m most interested in cutting, shaping, and finishing sheets and rods.

@frank_lima has experience with filament extruding like that, but I don’t think recycling plastics is as viable as it seems.

ok cool. id have to get in touch with him. i’ve never done it before, so i want to do as much research as i can before i start anything, if i start anything.

Just be aware that cutting plastics is not permitted in Woodshop except for a few exceptions such as with a special blade on the table saw. And clean up when you are done.

Actually, Bill, I discussed this with woodshop. Woodworking tools are
excellent for working with plastics. You are right about there being a
“best” blade, especially for tablesaws. But the cool thing is that you can
rout, mill, join, drill, sand, and so on. The only tool I haven’t used in
this manner in a woodshop is a planer. The same applies for the machine
shop tools- they can be excellent for plastics! The purpose of the class
is so makers can take advantage of the incredible space to do what they
want. BTW, you did not go to Cornell College by any chance, did you? I
know there was a William Gee when I was there (a long time ago :).