Help! Suggestion on which tools to use requested

[Aminax]

What I want to do is turn this old radio:



...into a flower pot! I've already removed the back and taken out all the innards to make as much room for soil and roots. What I need to do now is cut a hole in the top for the actual plant:



I haven't a clue what sort of tool(s) to use. To add to the difficulty, I would like to keep the handle intact.

Technical measurements:
Material: Hard plastic, .4 cm (3/16") thick
Hole: ~ 8.5cm (3.5") x 8.5cm (3.5")
The gap between where I want to cut the hole and the handle: 3.5cm (1 3/8") wide

Any ideas?

[Rue]

Cool idea...

You need a scroll saw...but I have no idea what kind of blade to use on that kind of plastic...

[escamosa]

I would probably use a coping saw. You have more adjustment on the blade to handle the odd shapes of things.

At the back of the piece you want to cut out, drill a hole in each corner, that will give you two points at where your cut will change directions. So, start your cut at the front edge, and cut towards one hole, then start the cut along the back of the radio from that hole, towards the other hole, then finish with the second cut from the front edge! Hope you understand that!

[Aminax]

@Rue: I've really been into "upcycling", which is taking stuff you might toss out and turning them into something else. :) I've got a tv downstairs I'm going to turn into a planter, too. :B

[Aeonflame]

A blowtorch would work well.

[William]

So would a sharp electric drill with very little pressure applied to it. If you only want to make a 1-2 inch hole fora plant that is. to remove more of the top the suggestions above is better.

If you do not have much tools you could do it witha sharp knife shaving the plastic of piece by piece. It will not break as long as you do not try to cut to big a piece at a time. Think shaving not cutting.

[smaug]

A blowtorch would work well.

Or perhaps a 12 ga? Lol

[cuckoochews]

If you will be doing more projects requiring this sort of thing , I would suggest a Dremmel... Ones w/ cords are much more reliable than the cordless ones and much cheaper, too (probably like 25ish bucks). Lots of uses, too! Love the idea, by the way!

[labnjab]

I've always used a dremel to cut plastic and it works great. Pretty much any of the high speed cutting wheels work, the basically just melt the plastic away