I have been given an assortment of corian scraps that I can use for making pens. It works very well for the "slimline" style of pen. However, for the thicker Mont Blanc style, I have to glue two pieces together.
So far I, haven't had much success with this. I doesn't matter whether I use the thicker crazy glues, model cement, or 5 minute epoxy. The results are always the same. The pieces split apart when when I'm turning.
I have tried sanding the faces with 80 grit to provide some tooth for the glue, but nothing seems to help. I know Dupont makes a glue for this product, because some of the shops laminate corian to make a thicker front edge on counter tops.
What can I use besides tracking down Dupont's product?
Any info on glue or technique would be appreciated.
I've never had a problem with thin CA and a light touch with a sharp skew. I HAVE had problems with any thick adhesives or heating up the Corian as I've turned it. The heat will certainly cause the CA to fail. The thin CA also allows you to get a tighter fit so that, with many Corian styles, the seams are almost invisible.
I've been making around a dozen pens/pencils and a few miniature bowls, boxes, hollowforms for the area solid surface mfg. company per month for the past 8 months. That's where I get their scrap Corian too. They use the turnings as employee and customer gifts from what I understand.
Unless you are a dealer or know an unscrupulous one, you won't be "tracking down" DuPont's Corian glue, since it is sold only to dealers. As far as gluing it together in a lamination...good luck. There are glues that might give you a halfway decent mechanical bond, but you would need a thick seam, which probably wouldn't look all that good in a pen. Epoxys are too brittle, as are CA glues. You might give Weldbond a try and Gorilla glue might work, but it would need a relatively thick seam. There is a product sold by a couple of dealers that I've seen, although the name escapes me at the moment...."(somebody's) Cement" which is supposed to be a new wonder-adhesive, bonds under water, inside a volcano or in space...no doubt somebody else will recall the name before I even get this posted.
I guess you could make friends with a Corian installer and have him do a lamination for you...it's worth a shot.
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to work with. It has certain turning characteristics that makesit quite different to work as compared to wood or other materials. Get somescrap and give it a try.
I've been told that Corian is pure Acrylic, and that the other solid-surface counter-top materials are a blend of Acrylic with something else (possibly polyester, but I don't remember). Martin
Hmmm I can't confirm or deny that. Are those clear "Acrylic Sheets" fairly pure acrylic? Corian certainly isn't like that in working characteristics. I don't see that it makes a difference one way or the other though. It's not wood.
************************************************** The cement that's used to connect/seal PVC pipe works like that. It might work on Corian, but I don't know if it has a clear version. The pretreat solvent has a purple color, But I can't remember about the main solvent/ cemant. I know You just brush it on, push the two pieces togrther, wait a few mminutes, and it's one piece.
I'm not sure if it will work on Corian, but Methylene Chloride might be worth a try, its very thin and runs everywhere so be careful. It's the strongest solvent available. I've used it from a syringe to glue/weld Plexiglass display units together. Your local vender of fibreglass products will likely carry it.
I used to be the Corian guy in a cabinet shop...It *does* require special glue, and it is not a good idea to try alternate adhesives. If you really want to turn Corian pens a lot, find a shop that works the stuff and ask for small cutoffs in usable thicknesses. For pens, they might have stuff in the trash that will do. (There is a black & gray speckled type that looks great as a pen.)
You can buy two kinds of adhesive for Corian on the "Corian for the Creative" web site. One of the adhesives is the Dupont Seam Adhesive (the same one that countertop installers use), and the other is an industrial cyanoacrylate. You can also buy Corian and some kits on this site. They offer a free 12-page booklet on how to work with Corian too. Go take a look and be sure and follow the links to some really great Corian sculptures and artwork too. For tons of info on pen making and making Corian pens, go to the Penturners Group on Yahoo. There is a huge amount of info in the group's Files section, FAQ, and in the message archives - not to mention amongst the 1600 pen makers who are members!
I Would most strongly recommend you don't try Gorilla Glue or any polyurathane! Most dissimilar plastics will chemically react with each other. Sometimes it's heat sometimes it's just time. But either way the seam will eventually fail.
Corian is mostly Acrilyc so CA Glue (With strong spring clamping) actually will weld the material together and it takes a real close inspection to locate the hairline seam. Don't rough the surface. you want as much contact between the 2 materials as possible.
The best thing to note with laminated plastics is that it's all in the chisel angle. Even with a razor-sharp skew you risk the point digging into the seam at high speed and you'll have the famous "blow-out".
My 3 best recommendations are to change speeds, chisels and sanding methods.... For starters, use a chisel called a "Skewchigouge" or "Skewgy" for short. It has a perfect fingernail bevel for taking it not only from square to round but also all the way down to your basic dimension without grabbing the seam.
After that, I would use the Skew chisel (At a dramatically high angle) to smooth it out. Use an extremely light touch, just enough to shave the chatter marks and even the surface. Watch both your up and down angle as well as the side to side angle because the back corner of the chisel is usually the one that digs in and causes the blow-out.
Also since you're using basically a fingernail angle, use your higher speeds even when cutting from square to round so the chisel will cut the Corian instead of break it off. This will lessen vibration and stress on the joint which is the most common reason CA glues fail.
Finally, Use WET sandpaper to reduce heat. You're getting your best results when you see the "slurry" instead of seeing powder on the blanks as they turn.
IPS Corporation has a product called "Weld-On" that works okay with a 24 hour cure time for Corian. I found that 48 hours actually helped reduce blow-out. I still prefer CA for Corian but CA didn't work too good on 100% Acrylic sheets.
Correct. Corian is pure acrilyc but in a slightly different form than the clear and even colored sheets. Corian cuts better without melting as much as the sheets.
Gemstone and others are mixed with Polyester which causes them to chip more instead of giving you those nice clean cutting ribbons that Corian gives. The secret to Gemstone is the sanding. Most things I've made from Gemstone has more of a sandstone quality while Corian looks more like Granite.
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