Looking for a small saw to cut small dibond pieces. Please send ideas. TIA

[Simon Worrall]

Hi Pane!

Whatever you gain in energy by NOT scoring and snapping and then planing, you will lose in the clean- up.
Saws are just machines to convert materials into dust. Even the best dust collection misses lots.

And even with a perfectly new blade, the edge will still need finishing

(in my opinion)

[David Stevenson]

Hi Pane, Not sure how much pressure you’re using when cutting DiBond but try very gently scoring it with a knife similar to this. You’ll be amazing how little force it takes to get it snapped which leaves a perfect edge. We’d a small circular saw for cutting it but like Simon said the mess is incredible. A 30 degree blade in the knife rather than a 45 degree cuts better I feel.

[Craig Thompson]

What about a small heavy duty guillotine?? No mess and clean edge?

[Hugh Potter]

I still prefer the knife option.

I always cut the rear of the panel I’m about to use, I generally cut through the rear face with a stanley knife and fold down, bend back up and wiggle until it snaps, the front edge will be nicely rounded, only the rear needing to be cleaned up.

For smaller panels I have a 600mm Ideal guillotine, it’s actually made for paper and card but will easily nip through composite and plastics, vcost me next to nothing on facebook market place and is perfect for odd small jobs.

I have in the past used a skill saw (circular saw) with a fine blade on a track, but I hate the mess!

[Richard Wills]

Keencut fanboy here.

Steeltrak – large and expensive, clean, quick, low effort and repeatable.

Or, the Evolution 3 has the option to cut ACM. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TlsH6FTqJw&ab_channel=Keencut.

I think (though may likely be wrong) that score and fold requires a certain amount of material to do the fold, so if you need to take 20mm off a side, it could be tricky. Only tried it once, moons ago, trying to take 5″ off the 8′ side of a sheet of Dibond; didn’t enjoy the experience, and the far rightside of the laminator rolls never looked the same.

[Simon Worrall]

You can take off even 10mm if you use a pair of mole grips with the super wide mouths. You just bend back and snap as usual, a few inches at a time.

Alternatively place the score line exactly over the edge of the table, and using a large rubber mallet, gently tap and snap, from one end to the other.

[RobertLambie]

@Craig Thompson

I have to agree with Craig, nothing compares to an old-fashioned guillotine!
They come in lots of sizes, from 300mm up to 3 or 4 metres wide.
I would advise you to get a manual or electric foot-operated one, but you can also get a desktop arm operated. but i think foot operated is far better.
Cutting a sheet of composite into bits in seconds and every cut being perfectly clean, is brilliant.
You can turn your off-cut waste into small signs very quickly and easily.
I have gone from a small guillotine up to an electric foot operated 3m wide one. I couldn’t do without it.
We purchased our largest one at an auction over 20 years ago. the machine is an old-fashioned Morgon guillotine and it just keeps on going.
Try ebay or local auctions for one, they are always on sale.
I have purposely attached various-sized old-fashioned ones. do not be fooled by the look of them.
i have also attached a photo of on thats new and a price. the 1000mm wide and 1320mm are the same price on that site, but you will get them much cheaper second hand. https://www.expondo.co.uk
some will say cuts up to 1.5mm but that is “steel”. You are cutting soft composite. All you need to make sure is that the blade clearance of the machine is more than 3mm.

[Colin Crabb]

With Rob on this, this type of bladed guillotine produces the cleanest, burr free (to face) cut possible due to the shearing action.

[Pane Talev]

Thank you all for your reply. After watching You Tube and doing some tests, turned out I don’t know how to cut dibond with knife properly. I’ve been doing to many scores with the knife.