Compass Cutter

[Jake79]

Hi Chaps

Will a compass cutter cut 1mm styrene..I need to make a few circles for a speaker box for my tiger and was thinking of investing in a compass cutter to do the job ?




Cheers

[frankie]

Yes it will but you need to take your time, do lots of light cuts as opposed to trying to cut it in one go..also going "backwards" against the blade helps..

[Jake79]

ok will do, thanks for the tips.

[Del]

you can do it that way but it will take ages.

i do it this way.
use the compass cutter to score the circle in the sheet,a couple of passes will do.
drill a hole in the center and with a stanley knife cut from the score line to the hole creating segments which you then snap out individually.

[Jake79]

Sounds like a good idea, I deff give that a try mate. cheers

[wibblywobbly]

As said above, the back of the blade scores the plastic, the sharp edge cuts it. I find I get a smoother edge if I score it. I have gone through 3mm styrene using one, so 1mm is no problem. If I use the sharp edge it tends to dig in, flex the blade and causes it to go offline. Takes a few tries to get used to how to get the best results, but a compass cutter is boon.

Another thing to remember is that if you are ever cutting out a circle, and then cutting a large centre out of it, start from the outside and work inwards. If you cut the centre out first you won't have anywhere to put the point on the cutter.

[jarndice]

Hopefully a related question ?
When I am cutting out Hatches it becomes quite clear that the corners on the different hatches are different angles,
Is there a devise that offers the flexibility to cut different angles ?
I havn't yet cocked up but I would rather have a tool that gave me some kind of guarantee rather than trusting to luck.
Shaun.

[Raminator]

Some great tips in this thread guys, definitely improved my skills with the compass cutter. Thank you!

[Ecam]

I've even used a compass out of a drafting kit with two "needle" points. Not fast but is scores just fine, and can be flexed to fracture on the score line reasonably quickly.