Our Display Cases are made from 3mm and 5mm thick acrylic. Acrylic sheet is as clear as the finest optical glass. Its total white light transmittance is 91% which is almost the highest possible light transmittance of any material.
Acrylic also has an advantage over glass in that its weight is less than half that of glass. Acrylic sheet has five times the impact resistance of glass so is less likely to break and if it does suffer an impact hard enough to break, it will break into large relatively blunt pieces which will be nowhere near as dangerous as glass.
We use cast acrylic sheet for our display cases which is UV stabilised so will not yellow or degrade in sunlight.
Acrylic is not affected by cold weather and will not become brittle or crack when exposed to sub zero temperatures. Acrylic is the hardest and most scratch resistant of all the clear plastics so is the most suitable plastic to use for making display cases. Acrylic can be drilled, cut and machined in pretty much the same way as wood.

Removing Scratches from Acrylic

Minor scratches can be removed from acrylic with brasso (soft metal polish) and a soft cloth. Simply dab a small amount of polish onto the soft cloth and rub into the scratch, keep on rubbing until the scratch disappears. After you have removed the scratch spray furniture polish (pledge) onto the area and polish as normal. If the scratch is deep enough for you to feel with your finger nail then you are unlikely to achieve an 'as new' finish, but the scratch appearance may be improved with the brasso method.