push-thru Corian letters

[iSign]

I tried messing with some scrap Corian yesterday. A contact of mine owns HLM (Hardware Lumber Maui) & has a division that makes countertops, as well as the main lumber yard. He has Corian sink cut-outs that he has saved for years... enough to fill a 40' trailer.. & we spoke about trying to find a product to make use of them.

I don't have any great ideas yet, but thought i should try seeing what I could do with his logo.

I had to mess around with the radius corners on the logo a bit, & forgot to fix 2 the first time, but I fixed the file & ended up with pretty tight tolerances.

With a few taps of a rubber mallet & a quick sanding of the unit, this looks pretty cool already, without any adhesive or filler.

Does anyone have experience doing this, who would like to offer me any tips?

 

[Marlene]

well that sure is cool! does he sell counter tops to companies? having their logo in the counter top would be a real added value.

 

[iSign]

that's kind of what I was thinking, or inlaid designs for custom home counter tops

 

[B Snyder]

I went to wikipedia to see what Corian its made of and the first image I see is captioned "Corian being engraved for signage."

 

[SignManiac]

Paint mask and v-carve, the paint or gild.

Edited to add, check out what this company does with corian.

http://performancesignage.com/

 

[TheSellOut]

Check out "Performance Signage", they are a wholesaler of corian signs! They might have some good info for ya! If I remember correctly the whole price was like $90 a sq/ft.

 

[hatmanok]

I have a friend that makes cutting boards out of them. You can make bread on it and the dough doesn't stick to it and it makes a great cutting board for cutting up meats and etc.

 

[Typestries]

+1 on the cutting boards and also small house signs out of sink drops

 

[3dsignco]

That's cool Doug.. Never messed with Corian..

How did it treat your bits. Did some Cultured Marble once and the Marble dust just killed my bit.
I did read an article a few years ago about corian on some signs and they were routing it then coming back and filling it with a different color. (same way I do HDPE) But then they sand it level all they way to 1000 grit then polish.

You were saying bout your Radius on the top of your letters.. Doesn't Enroute have an Inlay set up for your inside and outside cuts. whereas it takes the bit diameter in account.

When I do inlays or push thoroughs I always use a 1/8 O flute with a .03 allolowance to compensate for expansion and contraction and for paint thicknesses.

 

[John L]

Bill, Where do you buty your 0 flutes? And what do they cost you? 1/8" and 1/4"?

 

[SignManiac]

Bill I'm curious to know what you use to fill your hog out carved HDPE? Is this the same material that Starboard and ColorCore are made from?

 

[CES020]

Dupont will allow sign shops to buy Corian, but you have to agree not to make countertops.

You can also buy the material used to glue them together in colors, so no need for the inlay. Just route it, fill it, sand it smooth. No messing with fitting at all.

 

[iSign]

You were saying bout your Radius on the top of your letters.. Doesn't Enroute have an Inlay set up for your inside and outside cuts. whereas it takes the bit diameter in account.

I meant to study up on that, but I had already imagined how to do it this way, so I was able to come in early yesterday & get 6 of these made for my friend in less time than I usually spend studying software...

...but I will plan to learn that way for next time, because I'm sure it's faster, & I'm sure my rushing off to do it the wrong way is a textbook case of being penny wise, pound foolish!

CES2020, the "liquid Corian" filler is a great alternative for small stuff, but I wanted to make these samples, so this guy can show to his clients who build counters for big hotels & million dollar houses... why hotel logos, or turtles & dolphins might get inlaid at a size where the "liquid Corian" might not be as nice.

 

[Biker Scout]

I've used this in the past... for inlays use a smaller diameter bit.

Also Corian is used for Lithopanes... very cool stuff. But you'll need a program like Aspire, VCarve or PhotoVCarve. I don't think EnRoute has the capabilities to do that. But look up Lithopanes anyway, a huge money maker. Especially since the holidays are rapidly approaching.

 

[3dsignco]

John.. I just buy Direct from Onsrud.. Bits are around $23 to $28

SignManiac.. On the King Colorcore I have used regular old epoxy (USC) http://www.uscomposites.com/epoxy.html That I tint with 1Shot and have also used Polyurethane tinted with 1shot also.(Just don't use metallics. Looks like dog poo.) Have a few up south facing and still looks great after 4 years. When the fill starts to chalk just tell the client to use some wax and it will restore it back to new.

Bike do you have some photos of the lithos.. I would like to see one.. Have that capability in Artcam just never played with it.

 

[astro8]

Looks good....you'll probably want to fillet/round the corners in EnRoute and very accurate and fast.

I have done a few counter fronts and signs for shops that had their logos, patterns routed/engraved/inlaid into them...look really well and I like how the stuff routes easily so you can get good detail.

If you're engraving or routing into a piece that is to be paint/ epoxy filled or left bare etc watch your corners. They may need to be rounded off in the toolpath making procedure or pencil finished afterwards (I found out the hard way) as like acrylic they can have super sharp edges.

 

[JK driver]

I have done some Corian signage. And two custom counter tops. One was a bathroom countertop that I routed an ivy/vine motife in then painted it gold. The other was for a local BBQ house. I prismatic carved the copy and logos. Then the counter people used the resin from a contrasting color to fill the prismatic cut copy then sanded it smooth, polished, and installed. It has been in that BBQ house for over 8 years. I visit there frequently.