If you have a router and the means to cut a straight line with it, this trick for building a 5-sided acrylic box is considerably easier than the common slab-joint method, and gives better-looking results, to boot.
Projects from Make: Magazine
Tape-Hinge Acrylic Box Construction
Router-based method gives perfect miters.
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Steps
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Step #1: Start with the right size panel
- Figure out how long, wide, and deep you want the finished box to be, measured on its outside edges. Call these X, Y, and Z.
- The starting panel should have dimensions X + 2Z, Y + 2Z.
- Cut your panel to the right dimensions, making sure to keep the sides straight and true.
- Scoring and snapping will probably not be accurate enough. Alternately, you can...
- use a router with an acrylic bit, a table saw with an acrylic blade, or a computer-controlled tool like a laser cutter to cut the panel yourself.
- contract someone to cut the panel to size for you, or
- don't cut the panel at all, and use the whole sheet as it came from the factory. (That's what I did.)
Conclusion
Adequate cooling of the cut is essential; a groove that gets too hot will have a bad finish and make a bad joint. The freezer trick I used here might work for you, but longer and/or deeper grooves may require spot cooling at the router bit itself. A vortex tube would be perfect, if you have one, but canned air might be an inexpensive substitute for small jobs.
