Awesome Acrylic

Parking your car outside in the wintertime can suck. The Scrape Buddy makes getting ice off your windows easier with its ergonomic design and strong, diamond-polished acrylic edge. Its 5″ wide blade scrapes away ice quickly, and it’s small enough to keep in your glove box. It’s available in clear or blue.

Dissatisfied with the bass response of his off-the-shelf subwoofer, maker BigWR got to work retrofitting its speaker and amplifier into a new cabinet. He extended its acoustic chamber using angled sections of PVC drain pipe and assembled them inside of an acrylic cube. We’re not sure it sounds better because of the distortion, but it sure looks amazing.

While a full-scale version of the Hyperloop is a long way off, engineering teams have created costly scaled-down prototypes of Elon Musk’s envisioned high-speed railway. James from ProjectAir did things on an smaller scale, using off-the-shelf and 3D-printed parts with a shop vac to pull a model train along the outside and inside of an acrylic tube.

Record fans, check out these nifty coasters from MoonStation Design. The acrylic drink coasters look like tiny vinyl records and stack atop a miniature wooden turntable when not in use. The tiny turntable comes in red, grey, or natural wood, and the records come with assorted labels. They also make a mini boombox with cassette tape coasters.

When Serengy Technology came across a micromotor from a camera, he thought it would be perfect for driving a miniature power tool. He made his mini drill from a hunk of acrylic, which he painstakingly cut and shaped, then outfitted it with the motor, wiring, hearing aid batteries, and a tiny switch.

Modelmaking has always fascinated us. Cath from The Square to Spare shows us the steps to make a miniature fridge that looks just like those fancy French door models. Its cabinet can be 3D printed or cut from balsa wood, with acrylic or resin shelves, wrapped in stainless steel contact paper, and lit with LED fairy lights.

Maker Tim Sway has built a couple of “0% wood” instruments in the past, including an acrylic bass guitar, and another made from Corian. This time, he decided to build something that’s much more reliant on the aural properties of its construction – an acoustic guitar. As you’ll see, it was a very challenging and frustrating project.

Add a splash of color to your workspace with this 5″ high acrylic riser from Mink and Maple. It’s great for getting your laptop up off of the surface and has space for storing accessories or a keyboard. It comes in pink, green, blue, orange, yellow, and clear, in 10″ W x 8″ D and 16″ W x 10″ D sizes. It has a 5 lb. weight limit though.

Reach the bottom of your milkshakes, ice cream sundaes, and stir cocktails with these colorful reusable drink spoons from Thorsten van Elten. They’re made from high-quality Röhm und Haas acrylic, and measure 8.66″ long. Sold in sets of six including shades of red, purple, yellow/orange, blue, green, and natural.

Intrism is back with a smaller version of their wooden maze puzzle-in-a-cube. The 3D labyrinth comes in kit form, with 130 pieces of laser-cut wood and a clear acrylic shell. Once assembled, you’ll spend hours guiding its marble through twists and turns and 50 obstacles. Measures 6″x6″x6″.

Never lose a hex bit again with this bit organizer from Eng Commons. It packs in up to 150 standard 1/4″ driver bits into a compact, 4″ x 6″ rectangle and uses a double-decker design to keep the bits upright. It’s available in black or clear laser-cut acrylic.

Do you or your kids collect toy cars? This wall rack can hold up to 144 of your 1:64 scale rides like Hot Wheels or Matchbox cars, keeping them organized and dust-free. It’s made from clear, UV-protective acrylic and features angled parking spaces with a mirrored background. Measures 22.5″ H x 30.4″ W x 3″ D.

This see-through bookshelf shows off your library rather than hiding it. It’s made from 3/8″ clear acrylic sheets and has five cubbies that keep books from falling over without the need for bookends. It’s great for showing off your collectibles, too. Measures 51.5″ w x 10.5″ h x 10″ d, and holds up to 75 lb.

This intricate wooden sculpture offers a wonderful way to pass the time, first by assembling its 180+ laser-cut pieces to form its structure, then by guiding a marble through its 3D maze. In all, there are over 150 obstacles to navigate inside of its acrylic cube. Includes everything you need – no tools or glue required.

SunnyLife makes some of the coolest-looking party games we’ve ever seen. While it’s not an official Jenga game, this colorful green, orange, and clear Lucite game is played in exactly the same way as the classic wooden block-stacking game. They also make a matching chess/checkers set and Connect Four clone.

This see-through circular wall bin is perfect for keeping loose toys and other small items off of the floor. It’s ideal for Hot Wheels or LEGO, but also would look cool filled with colorful marbles. It measures 14″ across by 4″ deep, and holds up to 18 pounds. Pottery Barn Kids sells matching square bins.

Engineer Matt Ferraro came up with an innovative method to hide images in clear acrylic. At first glance, the tile appears to be completely transparent, but when light passes through it onto a surface, an image is revealed. The technique relies on caustic patterns which cast shadows and transmit light at varying intensities.

This unique see-through shower head produces a large coverage area using a grid of holes in an acrylic block. Each of its 276 is precision drilled to produce a satisfying circular vortex. Works with standard shower fittings in either a horizontal or vertical position. Sale price through 4.6.2021 on Touch of Modern.

Idaho artist Thunktronix makes playful pixel-art sculptures of characters from video games and pop culture. Each of the sprites is made from 1/4″-thick plexiglass which has been decorated with translucent colors on back. Robotron, Donkey Kong, and the Mooninites from Aqua Teen Hunger Force are among our favorites.

Darkboard offers a bold take on board game design. These eye-catching boards are made from laser-cut acrylic which sit on a backlit base. The designs create the illusion of depth and can be swapped out between Chess, Surakarta, Ludo (Parcheesi), and Nine Men’s Morris boards. Each set includes 32 acrylic chess pieces.

Between the popularity of The Queen’s Gambit and quarantining, there’s no better time to improve your chess game. This chess set from Showcase Plastics has a 12″ x 12″cast acrylic board with LED lighting. It’s available in a choice a variety colors for each side of the board, and includes a set of laser-cut acrylic chess pieces.

Builder Tim Sway always wanted to create a musical instrument without using any wood in its construction. So he set about crafting a fretless bass guitar from a thick sheet of clear acrylic and aluminum. Despite some challenges along the way, the finished result looks amazing.

Among their various creative pursuits, Melbourne, Australia’s Yell Design makes see-through jigsaw puzzles. This one is particularly outstanding. The Accident is made up of 215 individual pieces, each cut to look like a piece of shattered glass. Their laser-polished edges should mean no sliced fingers either.