Best tool for cutting irregular shapes out of hardboard

[Damian Stevenson]

I've got a 4' x 2' sheet of 3mm hardboard, onto which I have drawn the outlines of the shapes I intend to cut out. I was initially just going to clamp it to a bench and hack it apart with a saw, but then it occurred to me that they lovely and helpful people on here might be able to recommend a less labour-intensive approach. Does anyone have any thoughts?

The board currently looks like this, if that would prove to be of any insight. I plan to fill the rest of it with shapes before I bring it down to the Hackspace for cutting, in order to minimise the the number of times I have to lug it through town...

[Jake Howe]

Your best bet for the outline shapes would be the bandsaw, you can do fairly detailed work on it, and it will cut through hardboard pretty easily.

A coping saw is great for more detailed work, especially if cutting out internal shapes, as you can drill a hole, detach the blade, thread it through the hole then cut.

A coping saw would eat through hardboard fairly easily.

You can also cut hardboard using a sharp stanley knife/boxcutter, but its takes a few passes to cut through.

Jake

On 12 Jun 2013, at 13:57, Damian Stevenson <shallo...@gmail.com> wrote:

I've got a 4' x 2' sheet of 3mm hardboard, onto which I have drawn the outlines of the shapes I intend to cut out. I was initially just going to clamp it to a bench and hack it apart with a saw, but then it occurred to me that they lovely and helpful people on here might be able to recommend a less labour-intensive approach. Does anyone have any thoughts?

The board currently looks like this, if that would prove to be of any insight. I plan to fill the rest of it with shapes before I bring it down to the Hackspace for cutting, in order to minimise the the number of times I have to lug it through town...

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[Damian Stevenson]

Thank you for the advice! Is the bandsaw something that would require an induction, or is it just a matter of common sense? It's got to be over fifteen years since I last used one...

[Jake Howe]

The bandsaw is pretty straight forward. 

Its a fairly safe tool to use, just don't let your fingers get close to the blade. (like you said, common sense).

You can adjust the height of the red guide that sits around the blade on the back of the machine, loosen the small red handle, then turn the big red wheel.

You want to adjust this to the rough height to let your material through. This helps to stop the blade twisting or bending.

As always, have a play with some scraps first to get a feel for it. If your still unsure, then I am happy to show you in person.

Infact, a lot of people in the space are fine using it, so be sure to ask around if other people are in.

Jake

On 13 Jun 2013, at 13:58, Damian Stevenson <shallo...@gmail.com> wrote:

Thank you for the advice! Is the bandsaw something that would require an induction, or is it just a matter of common sense? It's got to be over fifteen years since I last used one...

[yt...@discreetsecuritysolutions.com]

If the bits aren't straight lines, then bandsaw might be tricky, especially if it has a deep blade fitted. You'd need a fretsaw or something like it for anything rounded. And either way it would take hours.

Your best bet is the laser cutter. Draw it in a CAD package, then slap it onto the laser cutter, and it will cut your 3mm wood nice and fast, with nice edges and almost no effort on your part. Perhaps 10 minutes of laser time, perhaps 15 tops, and all your parts will be perfect without any further effort.

N

[Dominic Morrow]

Our laser cutter is out of action. 

Most important thing about the bandsaw (and most any tool really) never force the tool. Let the tool do the work. It's when you needlessly push hard making it cut faster than its own speed that problems will occur.

Dominic 

Sent from my iPhone

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[Andrew Armstrong]

If you're lazy like me for the external parts a decent jigsaw and blade, and sanding on the belt sander works wonders for most circles, if you're careful and heavily clamp.

The internal ones are much harder using any saw, hehe. Sanding would also be more manual.

Andrew

On 12/06/2013 13:57, Damian Stevenson wrote:

I've got a 4' x 2' sheet of 3mm hardboard, onto which I have drawn the outlines of the shapes I intend to cut out. I was initially just going to clamp it to a bench and hack it apart with a saw, but then it occurred to me that they lovely and helpful people on here might be able to recommend a less labour-intensive approach. Does anyone have any thoughts?

The board currently looks like this, if that would prove to be of any insight. I plan to fill the rest of it with shapes before I bring it down to the Hackspace for cutting, in order to minimise the the number of times I have to lug it through town...

[Mick Beeby]

You can do external cuts with a bandsaw but you want a scrollsaw to be able to do internal cuts.

[Dominic Morrow]

You are right but we don't have a scroll saw. :)

Sent from my iPhone

On 22 Jun 2013, at 19:12, Mick Beeby <mickbe...@gmail.com> wrote:

> You can do external cuts with a bandsaw but you want a scrollsaw to be able to do internal cuts.
>

[Damian Stevenson]

Thank you for the responses, everyone. I'm pleased to report that the bandsaw did the job abmirably once I had cut the hardboard up into pieces small enough to actually fit into the machine in the first place. Heh. If I ever do this again, I think it would be advantageous to me to learn how to use a jigsaw for that initial stage - it must be much easier than just using a wood saw and elbow grease.

The final result looked like this, if anyone is interested. I think it took about six hours all told.