Glasses are commonly used on the windows, skylights and different panels of the house to allow light to enter into our house as well as provide us with a view to the outside.
However, due to the brittle nature of the glass – it is often replaced with plexiglass, which provides the same features but at a much higher strength. In this extract below, you will learn how to handle a plexiglass.
Can cricut cut plexiglass?
With the right blade of a cricut maker, you can easily cut plexiglass finely with great accuracy. In order to get the best results with the knife blade, make sure the thickness of plexiglass is 1mm or less – the blade is found to work best with a thickness of 0.02mm. Try on a sample to get an idea.
The cricut is a tool known to most craftsmen as a multifunctional tool that can pierce and cut materials of thickness upto 2mm. There are other machines out there similar to the cricut maker, but it triumphs them in both functionality and power.
On the other hand, the cricut explore air 2 reigns in terms of cutting and penetrating through thick pieces of plexiglass.
But before you get to learn about cricut, you need to understand and differentiate between plexiglass and acrylic.
Starting off, it is necessary that you recognize that plexiglass is actually a brand name whereas acrylic is the name of the material – which means plexiglass is manufactured with acrylic. Therefore, no need to be confused whether plexiglass or acrylic are different materials or not.
For cutting plexiglass effectively with a cricut machine, you need to understand the ideal thickness of the plexiglass sheet which the craftsmen have identified after years of practice and experience.
Although cricut machines have the capability to penetrate and cut a thickness of 2mm but they don’t give the best performance at that thickness – therefore it is best to cut plexiglass of smaller thickness.
Comparing the two different types of cricut: Cricut Maker and Cricut Explore Air 2, both have different cutting thickness.
Cricut maker:
With cricut maker, they have an ideal cutting thickness of 0.007mm – 0.02mm – their performance starts to lessen as the thickness increases but nonetheless, you can cut thicker sheets with them.
Cricut explore air 2:
In case of Air 2, they have a higher penetrative power and have an ideal cutting thickness of 1mm but similar to cricut maker, they can be used to cut sheets of higher thickness as well.
Can Cricut cut thin plexiglass?
Plexiglass is the brand name of an acrylic sheet made of transparent petroleum-based thermoplastic which makes it an alternative to be used in situations where glasses are exposed to impact or harsh conditions.
Cricut on the other hand is a commonly known craftsman’s tool for cutting and shaping acrylic sheets. However, there are two different types of cricut which are used to cut plexiglass depending on their thickness.
Cricut Maker is known to be the best choice for cutting thin plexiglass since it has an ideal cutting thickness between 0.007mm – 0.02mm, commonly thin plexiglasses have a maximum thickness of 1mm – which the cricut maker can easily cut at ease.
But if your plexiglass sheet has a higher thickness of 1mm or greater, then you should switch to Air 2 since they have a higher penetrative power and can cut to over 2 mm in thickness.
How thick of plexiglass can Cricut cut?
Cricut is a tool that is popular among craftsmen as they use it to shape sheets of different materials – including plexiglass. The cricut maker and air 2 are commonly used to cut plexiglass of varying thicknesses with high precision.
In case of cricut maker, they tend to give the best performance and accuracy when cutting plexiglass sheets of thickness around 0.02mm but they are known to perform well for thickness upto 1 mm.
On the other hand, the cricut air 2 is known to be able to handle plexiglass of higher thicknesses. Although they work best with thicknesses around 1mm, they can effectively shape structures out of a plexiglass sheet of 2mm thickness.
3 reasons why you can cricut cut plexiglass
Although there are other tools and equipment for cutting plexiglass, you might consider using cricut because of the reasons below:
High precision and accuracy:
In order to cut plexiglass with cricut maker, you would be required to connect the device to your computer and provide it with the design and instructions of how you would want your plexiglass to be cut and shaped.
Since the blade of the cricut maker can move in 3 dimensions with excessive precision – you can input complicated designs in the cricut maker to give you out your desired result with high accuracy.
Penetration power of the blades:
The blade used by the cricut is multipurpose and is built to be able to cut and shape sheets of different materials including plexiglass – therefore, the blades are powerful enough to penetrate through thick sheets of plexiglass to give them your desired shape.
However, the penetrative power of the cricut depends on what cricut device you are using. If you are using the cricut maker, then you can expect it to be able to cut plexiglass sheets of thickness upto 1 mm but if you own a cricut air 2, then you can cut plexiglass sheet upto 2mm.
Automated process:
Cutting plexiglass manually is not only inaccurate but also a tedious and time-consuming process. However, if you have a cricut maker at home – you can feed it your design blueprint and it will automatically cut the shape for you with high precision.
What cricut maker blade to use to cut plexiglass?
The cricut maker comes with a customizability of replacing blades depending on what material you choose to cut and shape.
But each of these blades have their own advantages and limitations – meaning, they can cut some materials with great efficiency while struggling to cut other materials. Therefore, using the wrong blade could result in damage to your material, let alone cutting it.
Although the Cricut Design Space Software specifies beforehand about which blade to use depending on the material you wish to cut, it is wise to know which blades are suitable to cut plexiglass.
Of all the available blades – Fine Point Blade is good for cutting thin plexiglass sheets, Deep Point Blade is great for cutting thick plexiglass sheets whereas the knife blade can be used to cut sheets of both thicknesses.
How to cut plexiglass with cricut?
The cutting procedure of plexiglass with cricut is simple if the following steps are imitated accordingly:
Choose the right blade:
As the plexiglass is multipurpose, there are numerous blades out there meant to be effective for cutting different materials.
Hence, It is essential that you pick the right blade not only to ensure the efficiency of the cut but also to prevent the plexiglass sheet from being damaged.
The Fine Point and Deep Point blades are more thickness specific, so it is better to use the Knife Blade as it works perfectly on sheets of any thickness.
Run a sample test:
After you’re done setting up the blade, it is essential that you ensure that the cricut maker is working correctly – otherwise, you could end up ruining your plexiglass sheet. Therefore, you should run a test cut on a sample piece of the same type of plexiglass you’ll be using.
Set the design outline into the program:
Next, upload the design outline that you have made digitally into the Cricut Design Space Software and select the blade type from the program according to the material type.
In the case of plexiglass, you will be required to choose the Knife Blade since you installed that on the maker.
Ensure stability of the sheet:
Before starting the maker, place a mat with a strong grip to hold the plexiglass sheet in place and your painter’s tape as well to tape the sheet to the mat. Once you make sure that the sheet does not move from its place, move to the next step.
Cut or engrave the sheet:
The cricut maker will cut or engrave your design into the sheet according to the thickness of the sheet. If your sheet is thicker, the cricut will engrave the shape into the sheet for you to manually cut it out when the engraving is done.
But in case of thinner sheets, the blade should be able to cut through and produce the design without your intervention.
Final Thoughts
You can simply cut plexiglass delicately and accurately with the correct blade of a cricut machine. To achieve the best results with the knife blade, make sure the plexiglass thickness is 1mm or less – the blade works best with a thickness of 0.02mm. To get an idea, try on a sample.