Cutting plastic with a dremel..

[gamefreak701]

I always have the problem of it not really cutting the plastic, but just melting it. This smells weird, and can hurt me when the melted plastic comes off. lol


I am making one of the DC-NES mods and am cutting the NES insides.


Is there a dremel piece that will Cut the plastic, not melt it?

thanks!

[Matt]

Try a lower speed? Use water maybe

[arrowhead]

If you dont have a multi speed dremel your pretty much stuck melting it. What you can do is take your time and only cut for a second or two, and like matt said, give it a spritz of water to cool it.

[bizzle]

Mine melted a lot but I was outside so I doubt I breathed in much of the fumes. The melting is actually kind of nice becuase it doesn't cut roughly then, it just goes right throw like butter. The melted plastic breaks right off so it's easy to clean up.

[gamefreak701]

I have a multispeed dremel.

I've used high and low speeds. Maybe some water will help a bit.

[Marvin]

There are accessories for dremel tools that are a lot like a router bit. The sharper the tool that you use, the less friction and less heat generated.

If the plastic is not too thick or hard I will sometimes drill holes to define start and stop points on a cutting line. I very sharp, quality utility knife can be used to cut from point to point.

If I am stuck making a cut that melts the material I cut the line short if the desired line. This leaves room to file the melted surface down to the actual target cut.

[bizzle]

I use a single speed dremel, 35,000 rpm. I used it to cut a window in my Dreamcast lid and it melted a bit but the melted plastic snapped right off when it cooled. With a but of sandpaper I made a smooth round window hole.