Steve Goes Shopping......Part 4

[Mike DeRegnaucourt]

The sides are sharp and rough to begin with, so obviously I need to sand them down and then polish them. Assuming I cut some intricate shapes (lets say an 8" high cursive letter "B"), what's the best tool to sand and polish this stuff? I think a dremel will be too small, but I would need to get into small spots. Any other suggestions?

Hi Steve,

I used to make a lot of pens out of Corian and I would polish them to a high gloss finish using the following process...first I would sand the pieces up to 400-grit sandpaper. Then I would use the BEALL Buffing system. The first part of the BEALL system uses a compound of Tripoli, next is the White Diamonds compound. For Corian I did not use the carnuba wax. The first two parts would produce an incredibly high gloss finish. Almost had the look of being covered in glass when I was done. If you have a lathe, the 3-wheel BEALL buffing system is really convenient.

Hope that helps.

[AL Ursich]

With the White and Bone Corina the guys over on the Carvewright Forum use the 1/4 inch stuff to make Litho's. They reverse Carve the back and illuminate it with Puck Lights.

I could only find 2 quick samples but it has been a staple in the project gallery.

I bet a laser could do some 3D like work.....

AL

[Dee Gallo]

Hi Steve,

I used to make a lot of pens out of Corian and I would polish them to a high gloss finish using the following process...first I would sand the pieces up to 400-grit sandpaper. Then I would use the BEALL Buffing system. The first part of the BEALL system uses a compound of Tripoli, next is the White Diamonds compound. For Corian I did not use the carnuba wax. The first two parts would produce an incredibly high gloss finish. Almost had the look of being covered in glass when I was done. If you have a lathe, the 3-wheel BEALL buffing system is really convenient.

Hope that helps.

Yeah, I can vouch for the Beall system, it's fantastic. Very fast and easy, it produces glass like finishes on almost anything you try.

[James Jaragosky]

Thanks for posting the pictures Steve. I'm the same as Onur, I've never had chance to use this stuff and it's still relatively newish type of material, most kitchen work surfaces are still made with chipboard covered with formica here.

Frank Ill bring you a piece....

[Steve Clarkson]

In a pinch you can use silicone adhesive to glue pieces together and CA glue for small parts works really well.

Use solid surface polish with the white 3M pads for a very high polish.
.

I guess my guy builds his profit into the adhesives and caulk guns......

He mentioned the silicone adhesive......but CA glue? California Glue?

Do you use the solid surface polish with the carnuba? Is there a name brand that you use?

[Steve Clarkson]

Hmmmm.....sounds like Beall gets two thumbs up!

Al, I'm dying to try a lithophane......haven't found the right material yet.....but hopefully soon......

[Keith Outten]

I used to buy Hopes Solid Surface Cleaner and Polish at the local Borg but they quit selling is over a year ago. You can find it on the Net though. Most paste wax and buffing compounds can leave a yellow film on Corian that can be a bear to clean off.

CA (cyanoacrylate) glue is commonly called Super Glue. The fast drying stuff that if your not carefull will stick your fingers together I like the Loctite Gel Control brand in the silver squeeze bottles.

If you search our archives Mike Null had some serious success making a lithophane with his laser engraver. The detail level of laser engraving by far exceeds anything a CNC router can do making lithophanes. Normally 1/4" thick Corian is used for lithophanes, anyone can purchase 1/4" Corian which comes in 30" by 96" sheets or you can reduce the 1/2" thick Corian down to 1/4" with a shop built router jig.

Below is a picture of the small Dupont Corian adhesive gun, cartridge and an extra tip plus the large adhesive cartridge for comparison. Note the tips have a built in mixing feature. They can only be used once, when the glue dries in the tip it hardens and it can happen in just a few minutes. Buy extra tips, leave the last one used on the cartridge until you need to use it again. Both cartridges are Glacier White color and they are available in a large selection of colors to match the basic Corian sheets or for color contrasting inlays.

You can find some very good information in our forums from the pen turners who use CA glue and Corian to make multiple color pens of various designs. Ken Salisbury wrote an article as I recall with lots of information about gluing small pieces of Corian making fancy pen blanks.

You can heat Corian in an oven and bend it easily, it should soak for 20 minutes at 325 degrees F and never exceed 350 degrees or it will degrade. A small toaster oven is useful to create some very cool engraving projects with twists or archs for engraved plaque bases.

The desk sign below was made from Azure Corian, the base is Everest. The back of the Azure disk has a small clock in it, sorry I don't have a picture of the back side.
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[Michael Doyle]

I use CA on Corian pens. Never had a problem.

Obviosly the polishing situations are quite different between lathe work and your cut outs. I was going to mention polishing wheels and compound, but it looks like that has been covered already

Here is one of my pens

[Belinda Barfield]

Yes, high gloss can be easily achieved on solid surface products. I advised Steve not to go high gloss for two reasons. First, in most instances it is an unncessary step as a matte finish is acceptable to most people. Second, solid surface products scratch very easily, and a high gloss finish makes the scratches and scuffs much more visible.

One thing I will add to Keith's mention of Hopes Counter Polish. It doesn't last. For items like cutting boards you can apply Hopes, but it is basically gone the first time the cutting board is cleaned.

Oh, and I left electrical switch plates and outlet covers off the idea list.