What do I need to cut ar500 armor?

[BillsCamino]

Have a machine shop clamp it down to a Bridgeport table and simply mill to your req'd size.
Will leave a nice, smooth edge too.

 

[36fatfriends]

Have a machine shop clamp it down to a Bridgeport table and simply mill to your req'd size.
Will leave a nice, smooth edge too.

At that point I think he would definitely be best off just buying them, right? I don't know what that would run, but it would have to be sneaking right up on the actual price.

 

[500mag]

Buy a LASER and cut it yourself.

 

[Appalachian American]

A grinder will build a lot of heat and take a lot of time and look like Homer's goat's hiney. Laser or waterjet will cost more than you could buy one new (unless you have a buddy). Plasma would be economical and your heat affected zone would be minimized especially if kept cool with a water spray. Oxy-fuel would be my next choice, but where ever you source this material maybe they can cut your pattern for you. The heat affected zone on hard plate tends to get harder so it may embrittle the material some. This may or may not be a "defect". If you have it machined the tooling will most probably have to be carbide or ceramic, this would be time consuming and overly precise and most likely costly. The ones I have seen do have curvature to them. Not really sure if this is an issue. It seems like a flat plate would sit funny and be in the way.

 

[BillsCamino]

At that point I think he would definitely be best off just buying them, right? I don't know what that would run, but it would have to be sneaking right up on the actual price.

If I wasn't retired I'd take them into work and do the cutting...Done a few projects this way for Geezer over the years.
Machinist for 40+ years.