Customer review 9.6!Cutting plastic with a bandsaw: which tooth pitch and which speed?
Cutting plastic with a bandsaw? Which tooth pitch for which thickness, at what speed, and what to do when the cut melts shut.
To cut plastic on a bandsaw, use a Flexback carbon steel bandsaw blade at the same speed as wood: 900 to 1,800 metres per minute. Choose the tooth pitch by the thickness of the material. Don't go too fine: the teeth can't clear their chips, the plastic heats up and the cut can melt shut again behind the blade.
Which bandsaw blade for plastic?
For solid plastics such as PVC, PE, PP and acrylic, use Flexback carbon steel. It has a flexible back that absorbs shocks and comes in tooth pitches from 2 to 32 teeth per inch. It also cuts wood and non-ferrous metals, so if you cut wood and plastic on the same machine, you don't need a different type of blade, at most a different tooth pitch.
For fibre-reinforced plastics there are grit bandsaw blades, made for materials that are too hard or too abrasive for an ordinary blade: Tungsten grit for glass-fibre reinforced plastic (GRP) and Diamond grit for carbon-fibre reinforced plastic. Allow a delivery time of 2 to 3 weeks for grit blades.
Soft foam is better cut with a band knife. How to choose one is explained in cutting foam with a band knife.
Which tooth pitch for which thickness?
This is the table shown with our Flexback blade. It applies to wood and to plastic.
| Material thickness | Tooth pitch |
|---|---|
| up to 1 mm | 24 TPI |
| 1 to 2 mm | 18 TPI |
| 2 to 2.5 mm | 14 TPI |
| 2.5 to 6 mm | 10 TPI |
| 6 to 10 mm | 8 TPI |
| 10 to 18 mm | 6 TPI |
| 18 to 25 mm | 4 TPI |
| 25 to 38 mm | 3 TPI |
| 38 to 50 mm | 2 TPI |
We don't make Flexback coarser than 2 TPI. If you cut plastic thicker than 50 mm, ask us for advice. How tooth pitch relates to the number of teeth in the material is explained in choosing the tooth pitch.
Not every tooth pitch is available in every width. In 6 mm wide you can choose from 4 to 32 TPI, in 10 mm from 3 to 24 TPI. The configurator on the product page shows what is available for each width.
Speed and heat
Our cutting speed table gives 900 to 1,800 metres per minute for wood and plastic. If you can adjust the speed of your machine and the cut still melts, try the lower end of that range or a coarser tooth pitch.
Which width and thickness?
Match the blade thickness to your machine. Small wheels need a thinner blade; follow the manufacturer's instructions. Flexback is also available 0.36 mm thick in 6, 10, 13 and 16 mm widths, for some of the tooth pitches. Choose the width by the shape: narrow for curves, wider for straight cuts in thick sheet, up to what your machine can take.
Ordering your bandsaw blade
On the Flexback page, enter the length of your old blade, anywhere from 500 to 12,000 mm, and choose width, tooth pitch and thickness. Don't know the length? Run a piece of string around the wheels of your machine and measure it against a tape measure. Which blade suits other materials is shown in which bandsaw blade for which material; everything for plastics and soft metals is in the Plastics & Non-Ferrous Metals collection.