best tool for cutting plastic

when doing vinyl siding with a circular saw, you put the blade in reverse. try that with the scroll saw. could also get a speed controller that reduces the speed even further then what you have now.

blusteel wrote:

my scroll saw seems to melt my plastic, it is a 2 speed dremel.  Ive tried different speeds and blades, no luck.  So when cutting long lengths of plastic..like the hull of the 1/72 gato...what should I use...thanks for your input

What are you trying to do,  waterline it?

Establish your cut marks and apply masking tape as a straight edge.    Take an #11 Xacto blade (broken tip is ok) and run the back side of the point along the tape edge.   Start with little pressure to just start a groove.  Add a little more pressure each pass.  You will be plowing plastic out of the groove.  After 10 - 12 passes you should be deep enough that the plastic will snap.

thanks for your response, I bought all of the Eduard PE sets for this kit.  They require the removal of just about all of the "deck" area, which ofcourse are really long cuts. Ive never worked with PE before so I thought this would be a good lesson, esp since the pe parts are so large. Then I would work my way down to the small stuff. It has turned out to be somewhat more difficult than I had expected...I grew up on airplanes and this is my first foray into boats.

Try to use petroleum jelly as a lubricant on the surface of the plastic, I read that it reduces the friction that causes the plastic to melt.

To cut a hull lengthwise, I would score it repeatedly with the back side of a #11 blade until thin enough to 'snap'. Then flat sand it to get the uniformity I desired. I do it with aircraft fuselages all the time.

On smaller project I use a piece of a micro saw blade chucked into a knife handle to make the cut. Here is a 1:144 airliner I did.

I will draw a reference line or use some sort of straight edge fastened to the piece to act as a guide for my scoring or saw cuts...as long as you take your time and let the blade do the work it is clean fast and easy. 

a pic is worth a k words....thanks