Cutting styrene sheet – plasticard

[Boiler BriParticipant @boilerbri]

I bought a load of plasticard from station road base boards with the intent of building the superstructure for a ship model.

Marking it out is easy enough, using a fine point pen.

I have then tried various methods of cutting it out.

1. Stanley knife. Opens the edges out as i cut.

2. Standard modelling knife. Nearly took my finger end off and takes too long scribing the cut!!

3. Cutting it with a pad saw. Bad finish.

4. Cutting with my dremmel. Too smelly and i seem to melt the edge.

I have eventually settled for using the stanley and makeing the parts oversize and sanding them back to size.

Is this the nornal way to do things or does one of you exerienced guys have a better way of doing it?

Your advise please.

Brian

[Boiler BriParticipant @boilerbri]

[Ken ChurchillParticipant @kenchurchill26427]

Tha stanly knife is the best approach. All you need to do is scribe down against a steel ruler three times and then bend the plastic at the cut. Force is not needed as it will spread the plastic outwards, as you've found out.

It will snap along the cut to perfection. Always cut on the outside of the pencil mark to allow for final light sanding (if necessary). For precision cuts then place the knife blade in the line and move the ruler up to the blade.

The important thing to remember is keep a force downwards on the ruler to prevent slippage, and loss of limbs, so choose a ruler with a handle down the centre line.

Hope this helps,

Ken

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

As Ken says a Stanley knife is the best tool,

I would only add that a self healing cutting mat is a great aid to cutting and dont skimp on changing the blades before they become dull.

Finally as Ken pointed out you must use a safety ruler, if you havent got one then take my advice and invest in one, I speak from a bitter experience many years ago and a lesson learnt the hard and sharp way from which I still carry the scars.

Paul

[Armando LoniParticipant @armandoloni78860]

'Making Model Boats with Styrene' by the late Richard Webb (ISBN 1-900371-46-4) is a very good introductory text on working with styrene. The Stanley knife method is good especially for thicker sheet although < 2mm can be done easily with a scalpel/craft knife. With both 'score-and-break' cut techniques, you'll notice raised ridges both sides of the cut line – these can be either sanded flush or, if you're good with the scalpel, the ridge can be sliced/paired off by running the blade along the cut line – the ridge comes off as a length of spiral (like a spring).

[Armando LoniParticipant @armandoloni78860]

I notice, in fact, that there is a copy of the book currently on E-Bay (nothing to do with me, BTW).

[TelstarParticipant @telstar]

Hi Brian I use a plastic cutter I got some time ago from "Squires Catalogue" it has a hook blade, and dos'nt give a raised lip on the cut

**LINK**

some on this site

Cheers Tom

[Author]

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