Today I had a bad day where I customer brought back an IkonMetal plaque that I spent way way way too much time on. Between all the time it took to engrave, to color filling, to the laser sandblasting mask that Ikonic swore would work and did not work at all; the whole job sucked. To cap it off, it wouldn't take to clear coat and began to peal off immediately once it hit the sun. The board also warped during the 30 minute install and a corner broke on the installer. In the end, I decided never again. Simply not worth the effort. If the customer wants that look in the future, it's bronze or bronze. I'll take some of the blame, but the product is far too finicky and fragile to ever be considered worth while. I'd strongly suggest that anyone stay away from IkonMetal.
So, now that that is out of my system; we were talking to the same customer and I was throwing out different materials they could use. Once again, they shot down using granite and Corian(my second suggestions behind bronze). Honestly, I typically push bronze and that is what the customer ended up ordering. I don't push Corian very often simply because I'm not very experienced with it and the did one plaque in Corian I previously did was a bit of a pain. After doing some research I realized I didn't follow the instructions on a few things, but none-the-less it left a sour taste in my mouth. (Hours cleaning up color fill makes me angry. Same reason I will never touch IkonMetal again).
I decided to try it messing around with Corian again because everyone on here says it's a great product. I got a sample piece a few days ago and decided to throw it on my IS 6000(fairly large rotary engraver) and began to cut out a heart shape with a .125" endmill. In the end, my results were fantastic. It will take probably 5 passes to get through .5" material, but I can keep everything in house and cut any shape I want. Well worth the extra minutes on the machine. I'm really happy with the result. I'll do all the edging with a hand held router and any bits I want. Granted, it's not as streamline as a router table, but frankly, my IS 6000 is my least used engraver and I'd rather it do something than nothing. I wouldn't trust a router table to do some of the work I do on the IS6000 and at this point, I'm not ready for another $6000+ investment on a router table.
Quite frankly, I'm excited to see how I can integrate this product into my sales. For a few hundred bucks between a new router, bits, and orbital sander, I think I should be able to see a nice return over the next few months.
I do have a few quick questions for the Corian guru's on here.
1) Do you clear coat the piece after you are done to protect the paint fill?
2) Is there any issue with heat? I was talking with a supplier and said Corian can be heated and bent or heated and sublimated. I do not want to offer this as an outside product and then have issues with heat. I doubt I would, but after this last project, I can't be too safe.
3) Are there any efficiency tricks with lasering this? I only have a 30W laser and frankly, I always find on stuff like this it takes forever to do a simple design, especially if I add a decent border.
4) On larger pieces I'll need to engrave it on the IS 6000 as well. I ASSume that a regular plastic engraving bit is the correct bit, but would a small end mill be a wiser and more efficient choice?