Anybody have experience working with FRP panels?

I'll be using FRP for the bottom 4ft of the walls in my shop. I've never worked with it before so I thought I'd see if anyone here has any tips.

Ive seen specific FRP adhesives. Are those the best option? I've gotten suggestions for cutting the panels with air shears, but would a fine tooth saw blade work in a jigsaw? Or an oscillating multi-tool?

Fine tooth to prevent chipping should work.  Just be sure to protect your lungs from glass fibers.

1988RedT2 said:

Fine tooth to prevent chipping should work.  Just be sure to protect your lungs from glass fibers.

Also, place your fine tooth blade (80 teeth) in your saw backwards.  This prevents chipping.  It's grinding away the material.

An angle grinder with a thin blade works too!

Yes, circular saw.  Thanks SVreX!

Note:  you asked about a jigsaw, and trucke is referring to a circular saw. 
 

Both work fine. 
 

Cut from the back when you can.

Thank you all! Hopefully I can get it going in the next few days, and have a nice finished pic to share.

As for the circular saw blade, how many teeth is fine enough? I think I've got a blade with around 40 teeth. Will that work, or should I buy something else?

The smaller the teeth the better. A plywood blade is great. 
 

Ive used a standard framing crosscut blade, but you've got to be really slow and careful. I don't recommend it. 

Sounds good!

Wear good air mask!

In reply to Purple Frog (Forum Supporter) :

Noted!

Don't expect to use the blade again for wood.  The fibers are usually glass.  Reversing the blade is a good idea to "grind" it instead of cut and it can save the blade a little.

When I cut an FRP to re-skin the door on an RV, I used a super cheap plywood blade (the stamped steel one that came with the saw) backwards and it worked but was slow and melted the plastic if I went to fast.  I flipped it around forward and it was faster, but liked to chip if you went too fast.

Cutting out the square for the door handle was a different story.  I tried a dremel with a fluted bit and got about 1" before it was wasted.

I have used tin snips to cut FRP, works great and no dust. Takes longer to do so if you have a lot of cuts it's probably not practical. You might be able to score it several times with a utility blade and snap it.

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

What did you have good luck with for the door handle cutout? I'll have to do some cross cuts where a circular saw with a fence seems like the appropriate tool, but most of my cutting will be small stuff around outlets and switches. That's why I was thinking jigsaw or multi-tool.

I ran an ice cream manufacturer.  FRP was our wall covering in the production room as it was cleanable.

We renovated the room after 10 years and replaced all of the FRP.  We replaced the green board drywall on the bottom 3 feet all around the room due to visible moisture issues.  If you expect the FRP to get wet regularly you may want to think about green board under the FRP.