Drilling acrylic

[Koddie Doo]

Putting a splash guard across the back of my sump. Need to put 2 small holes in this sheet of acrylic I got at lowes. How do I drill it without cracking. Holes the size of very small screws.

 

[Fishmommy]

Heat is the enemy, and if you can get an acrylic bit that would be best....it has a different flute angle.

 

[sbeason]

If you use a corded drill it won't crack, because it spins faster than a cordless one. I would use some water on the bit to keep the heat down so it doesn't melt the acrylic.

 

[South City]

I just put about 12 holes in a big sheet of acrylic with a small drill bit as I was fashioning a German Shepherd proof cover for my front door window. As the drill bit pushed through the sheet, I got small cracks on the first two where it exited the other side.(Luckily the small cracks didn't matter since this was something that didn't need to be waterproof)

I started drilling both sides for the remaining holes and wound up with no further cracks. I drilled about a 1/16 of an inch on one side and then flipped it over and drilled all the way through. Each hole came out perfect with that method.

 

[mpgrant77]

The angle of a standard drill bit is the actual issue. They make steep angle drill bits for drilling acrylic. Just search acrylic drill bits and you will find what you are looking for. As the standard drill bit goes through it wants to put to much outward force on the acrylic causing it to want to split apart. This causes the cracks as it breaks through. The steep angle bits produce much less outward force as it cuts through keeping from stressing and cracking the acrylic.

 

[Tigerdragon]

I use a spade bit seems to work good depending on hole size

 

[mpgrant77]

Spade bits work well to. If the holes are larger forstner bits work really good also.

 

[TanksDad13]

+1 for Forstner

 

[kegogut]

If you get a drill press it will go alot easier too. One of the main reasons acrylic cracks when drilling is because its not drilled straight.

 

[kegogut]

And how thick is the acrylic your trying to drill?