A good solvent to clean up the interior void would be glacial acetic acid. It melts the acrylic and then it hardens with a smoother surface. A couple of droppersfull would do a small volume like this. Must be "glacial"(99%), not "normal" or vinegar(~5%)
The thinnest Weld-on products would work too.
Just a heads up to anybody using glacial acetic acid- it's really nasty stuff, mostly due to the vapors. It's more irritating than even strong ammonium hydroxide solutions. Good ventilation or a respirator is a must, not a suggestion.
Tap suggests a mapp torch in this video, but well, they don't make mapp anymore. video has other tips for acrylic work
I think Lexan is polycarbonate.
I'm not positive what plastics i used to machine. Getting old and stupid. I remember machining (i think acrylic)blocks for gas manifords for medical devices. I had to keep the speed down, to keep the heat down. Have to use o il, not water as I was once told by a boss I had. I did try that that time and it didn't work. Water just beads up. You have to make sure you always h ave oil on it or else. I've machined plastic at several shops, different material and always used oil for lathe, mill and thread. It was crystal clear.
I've gotten pretty good finishes on acrylic (Lucite, Plexiglas, etc.) using Hangsterfer S-500 coolant mixed about 1:10 with water, eitther flood or mist. A squeeze bottle or aspirator (like window cleaner bottles) would probably work pretty well, too.
Here's the result from one of my earliest trials:
Sharp tooling helps and you want a fairly fast feed to avoid melting the chips to each other or the milled surface.
Mike
Yes, it is.
Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.
Ask the community — no account required