Had some more ideas:
- Polycarbonate instead of acrylic
- Much stronger
- Not as easy to laser cut
- Might be able to drill the holes?
- Usually clear, so you’d need something else for diffusion
- BOPP Film
- This is really thin, translucent with light behind it, but completely opaque without, and transmits light well. I thought it looked great with a matrix behind it
- It’s too thin to have any structure on its own, so you need to sandwich it between two other layers. I tried experimenting with using adhesive to attach it to acrylic but ended up with bubbles
- I used this on my first SmartMatrix product that I sold at maker faire in 2014. It’s difficult to work with in large quantities, so I avoided it for future kits
- SmartMatrix - Projects
- I think I got the BOPP film from something like this: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/20-30cm-BOPP-Pearl-Film-ZipLock-bag-100-X-Translucency-Plastic-bags-side-clear-White-pearly/32651751628.html
- I doubt you’re going to find a bag big enough for your display
- I’ve also purchased this in the past, it’s much thinner than the BOPP bags: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000E2RGH/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I see you already made some progress on diffusion, so maybe this isn’t the direction you want to go, but thought I’d share anyway.