Homebrewed Acrylic Case- Need input

Hey folks I'm working along with a friend on producing some slick acrylic cases and am looking for some input. Technically it isn't "modding" as it is being built from scratch, but the concept is the same.

Problem: Produce a case with a motherboard showing at a 45 degree angle that can use both watercooling or air cooling. Case must be able to be built by rookies under the eye of an experianced uncle. Case must be unique in look, and be custimizable by color (and possibly etching) so that friends can have different styles of their own using the same case. (example all UV blue with name engraved and all green with clover etched) Base color I would like to keep black.

Current Concerns

-45 degree angles sound scary: How can this be done to make it sturdy and accurate? How can the cut be perfect so that the sides will be flush with one another?
--Work Around: Designing case to minimize need for 45 degree angles. I think I might be ok here if I get clever, but I'd like to know if anyones done this in the past

-Hard Drive cooling
--How important is hard drive cooling? How much do they need? I'm working with very limited space and wish to fit 2-3 HDs and a DVD drive.

-Laser Etching
--How much does it cost to get words cut through acrylic? What about pictures etched into them? Who does it and how long does it take?

-Painting
--I want some sides to be a nice glossy black. What type of paint should I use? Will it be scratch resistant? Big question I'm having right now is how to cut into painted acrylic. (I want letters to shine through UV on the inside yet the surface they are in be black)
---Workaround: Glue two sheets of half thickness together using black glue. Produces a very nice gloss effect that can't scratch.

-UV reactive acrylic
--I want the mobo tray to be a UV reactive color to match the owners color scheme. I heard this is possible, just curious if others have seen it done. Not much will show, but I want it to shine.

-Cutting, filing, sanding, buffing
--Jigsaw ok? How much filing and sanding should I expect to do? How do I create a nice buffed finish on the edges? Does that wet sandpaper stuff workout here? What about CD scratch remover?

-UV colors
--I'm new to the field of UV colors (currently run an xclio case stuffed full of extra blue "laser LEDs" which are awesome) and am unsure how to make my tubing glow. Do I have to stick an ugly black light cold cathode in there? I really hope not as I'd prefer to go a single color.
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A thousand and one questions I know Sad

If anyone has any insights that I could benefit from please give me a heads up. My friend and I are very excited about this case and want to make sure it turns out very well.

Thank you all for your time,
Mike

Was thinking of heading down there-- Saw him on saturday but he was busy helping a guy out with his watercooling. He's building an awesome new acrylic case that is a simple lunchbox sized enclosure. I feel bad though-- I've gone in there many times yet never purchased anything besides a sleeving kit which they're going to show me how to use anyways Rolling Eyes

Eh I'm going to head out and see what they have to say. Back in a bit.

Don't worry about feeling bad man, were here to help, stop on by, draw me your basic idea, and i'll draw and model a few cases for ya. we can help you build it up and answer any and all question you have....

this is gonna turn out to be an awesome case, the angles will be easy to handle and to make sure every is flush and fits right, find a belt sander and anything that has to be the same, angle but parallel from each other, just sand them together so they end up with the same angle

I would think it to be easiest to make the mobo tray out of one piece bent twice, so that its an upside down U. and then use another, larger? taller? piece to go over the top and keep it enclosed

Paid them a visit and they answered all the questions I had plus some. I also found out a new trick in designing cases on sketchup.

Will look into belt sanders

@ chemistry: Can't bend acrylic-- but the motherboard will be essentially a sheet propped up at 45 degrees by the back of the case. We'll throw some pictures up when we finally put something together.

(I'm the other guy helping on this project)
My friend here has built a prototype out of white foam bored, and so far it looks like it could work.
Does anybody know how much it would cost to do a laser edged picture on an acrylic panel?