working with acrylic for sports memorabilia display case

[jkg]

I'm thinking about building a display case for a prized autographed basketball my son got. Conceptually the design is easy - simple wooden base with an an acrylic box above it. In practice, however, I'm unsure how to do it.

Anyone have experience working with acrylic? I've seen a few pointers on using it for jigs, but pretty fit and finish don't matter much for a jig. Being a display case, the joints have to look really smooth and clean with no evidence of cuts etc. How do you cut acrylic smoothly? What kind of saw blade? Any special sanding or polishing required so the joints look professional? And the simple stuff... where does one even buy sheets of acrylic?

My fall back position is I'll buy a relatively inexpensive display case that has a good acrylic box, but crappy wood base, then I'll make a more attractive wooden base to fit the top. That will probably cost me $50 or so... might be worth it.

[PaulMarcel]

Look for a place that makes custom aquariums in your area. You may be able to get them to make the acrylic box the size you want for a decent price. If you want to do it yourself, they'll likely have offcuts plenty big enough for you, but not an aquarium. Before my local aquarium guy moved out of state, he would have talked you through most of it... he did back then and I wasn't interested! ha!

[duckkisser]

look at craft store's like hobby lobby its seems to me that i have seen that sort of case there. the one im thinking of was a domed top was rather inexpensive and it looked good.

[dwacker]

Acrylic is very easy to work with. Go to tap plastics on the web. Buy acrylic, weldon #3 and an applicator. I can step you through it or watch the videos on their site.

Don