How to Slot an Acrylic Sheet

Put on your safety glasses and place the 3/4-inch plywood sheet flat on top of the worktable.

Lay the acrylic sheet on the plywood and cover the area where you are going to create the slot with the two-inch wide masking tape.

Set the two-inch wide piece of plywood across the acrylic sheet, just past the area where you applied masking tape, and clamp the plywood to the worktable with the self-locking C-grips

Mark the location and size of the slot on the masking tape with the tape measure and pen. Place an additional mark one-half of the width of the hole in from each end of the slot. For example, if your slot is 3/8 of an inch wide, make a mark 3/16 of an inch in from either end of the slot.

Secure the drill bit into the chuck of the drill motor.

Drill a hole at each end of the slot on the marks you placed one-half of the slot width in from the slot’s end. Use the spray bottle to coat the drill bit and acrylic sheet with water as you drill through the acrylic sheet.

Continue drilling the hole until you are completely through the acrylic sheet and into the 3/4-inch plywood.

Release the self-locking C-grips and slide the area of the acrylic sheet with the two drilled holes off the edge of the plywood and work table to allow room for the jigsaw blade to extend below the acrylic sheet. Clamp the acrylic sheet in place with the self-locking C-grips.

Place a 14 TPI jigsaw blade into the jigsaw and cut on each of the pen lines that connect the two drilled holes to complete the slot.

Run the stout-bladed knife around the edges of the slot to remove the bur left from drilling and cutting the slot in the acrylic sheet.