Dremel with a cutoff wheel is way better than a jigsaw for cutting acrylic panels

Spent two hours fighting a jigsaw on a side panel last weekend, swapped to a $9 Dremel cutoff wheel and had it done in 15 minutes with zero chipping, anyone else find that acrylic cuts way cleaner with a rotary tool than a saw?

2 comments

2 Comments

ninas7019h ago

Honestly, 'way better' is putting it mildly. I tried a jigsaw once on a thin acrylic sheet for a monitor riser, and it cracked from the vibration alone before I even got halfway. Swapped to a Dremel with a cutoff wheel and it was like cutting through butter, no cracks, no melting edges even. The key is keeping the speed medium and not pushing hard, just let the tool do the work. Plus the cutoff wheels are cheap enough that I don't feel bad burning through a few on a messy project.

barbara39918h ago

Oh man, that jigsaw struggle is all too real. I did the exact same thing on a custom PC build last month, spent way too long with the jigsaw and ended up with this ugly melted edge that just looked terrible. Switched to a Dremel with a cutoff wheel and it was night and day, super clean cuts and zero stress. The cheap wheels are a lifesaver too, I bought a big pack of them on Amazon for like eight bucks and they last forever if you don't lean on it too hard. Totally agree that medium speed is the secret, I think people crank it up too high and that's when things go wrong.