Corian?

[Bonnie Campbell]

I was sent a box of corian cut offs.... now I need to know how you turn and glue it? Anything especially tricky in using it? I'm thinking pens, cutting boards, coasters......

[Bernie Weishapl]

I cut mine Bonnie with a fine tooth blade on my small bandsaw. As far as glue goes I use 5 or 30 minute epoxy depending on how many pens I am going to glue. Not sure about coasters or cutting boards.

[Jon Lanier]

I usually make scroll saw projects out of Corian. Pretty much can be treated like wood except for a few factors. One of them being there is no grain so don't worry there. If you choose to run it through your planner, go VERY small with cuts and be prepared for a noise that will freak you out.

If you do use a scroll Saw, use a low TPI, so the flakes can get thrown out before it melts and re-seals the cut you just made.

[Rich Souchek]

bonnie,
They cover using coran over at penturners.org pretty regularly.
Believe there is a special glue for coran, but many just use CA or epoxy. Try some searches over there for details.
Rich S.

[Bobby Perry]

I got a whole wal mart sack full of that stuff that was given to me. Guess I need to look it over and see what I can make from it.

[Terry Quiram]

Bonnie I cut red, white and blue corian into thin strips so I can make the centerbands for the pens I turn. I glue with medium CA and clamp overnight, no accelarator. I glue the pieces together and before the glue has a chance to set up I wrap the stack in wax paper and make a corian sandwich use boards to distrubute the clamp force.

Terry

[David Peno]

I have a bunch of Corain cutoffs for the freedom pens project that I received this week. What you can do is clamp the two pieces together enough so they will not move but not too tightly and then use thin CA glue on the seams. The glue will wick into the seam and in 24 hours will make a very strong bond. I used two white pieces and can't see the seam after they are glued.

Dave

[Bill Stevener]

An adhesive that is used for Corian is -- Apollo Cyberbond 2002. Not cheep.

[Ed Carpenter]

http://solidsurface.com/ has an adhesive selector to help you choose the right adhesive color for the color of solid surface (corian) material you are working with. Tips and guns are also available.

[Dick Strauss]

The box of cutoffs I got mentioned dusting the pieces with baking soda, clamping the joints, and then adding their glue which looks like thin CA glue. I assume the baking soda provides a very thin gap to make sure the glue wicks completely across the joint.

Unfortunately most of the cutoffs I got are so small you have to do a glue-up to turn a slimline. Also the red and white pieces have a solid color but the blue is spreckled. Corian also stinks up the shop when you cut or drill it.

[David Peno]

An adhesive that is used for Corian is -- Apollo Cyberbond 2002. Not cheep.

You are correct it is not cheep. However, When I got my bottle it said "thin CA" on the package as well. I tried a glue up using my other bottle of thin CA and it worked like a champ. The bond is so good I can not see the gap of the two white test sections I glued together.

Dave

[TYLER WOOD]

You can use corian for anything you would turn wood. I have turned ash trays, pens, tops to deep ash trays, and will be turning some other stuff as well. keep the tools sharp, light cuts, and take your time. This is brittle stuff, and will crack and split anytime, it can get frustrating. For gluing, ca works fine.

[Raymond Overman]

Bonnie,

I use CA for corian pen glue ups.

Just be careful in the sanding process. Building up any amount of heat due to friction will cause the stuff to melt.

[Bonnie Campbell]

Thanks for all the help! I haven't tried gluing anything yet, but did try turning a piece Boy! Am I going to need to start practicing my sharpening! It looked like Christmas in the shop with all the white shavings. And I found out they cling to everything! Had to vacuum good after that try out.

[Dean Thomas]

Hi Bonnie,

In the FWIW department, something seen while looking for something else.

Corian has two definite surfaces to it. The "top" is slick and flat. The bottom is not. If you need to attach more than two pieces together, you have to make the bottom smooth so that your glue joints will be super fne and clean.

The article talked about using 3 pieces of 1/2" Corian to create 1-1/2" blanks for salt and pepper shakers. The author lightly sanded the bottom of one, just a couple of light strokes on very fine sandpaper (220 grit???) took out the texture. The close-up pix of the finished pieces looked absolutely seamless!

The author also mentioned being sure to get all, all, all of the dust out of the picture before clamping and wicking glue in. I usually get in a hurry and get bitten by that very sort of thing. Then NOTHING will make the joints tight.