OT. Working with Corian.

hywelg

A while back I asked if anyone had experience with corking with Corain type material. I needed a big sink for my workshop extension (aka brewery) and couldn't find one big enough to get a 50cm dia SS brew pot in. Yes I could have got a custom made stainless steel one made but along with the adjacent worktop it would have cost over a grand. SO having seen some YT vids about working with Corian (other brands of solid surface worktop are available, indeed mine isn't corian) I figured as I have all the wood working tools necessary I'd have a go at making one.

Here's the result.

The sink box has the base dadoed into the sides. The sides are machined with a lock mitre at the corners, though apparently butt joints are strong enough.

I machined some coving strips to glue into the inside edges to round them off. What you can see is the glue joint, I asked for dark grey, got light gray and should have used black. hey ho. Lesson number 1

The sink was then glued to the underside of the top and the hole then routed out. Edges were built up with various machined strips.

Sanding with 80g abranet to remove machining marks, then 400g dry 75mm discs on a pad in my drill, followed by 800g dry. Finished with extra coarse compound on a 3" foam pad in my drill, brings it up to a nice shine, very much easier than lacquer, though as the material is naturally a silk finish achieving a high gloss isn't really possible. Lesson number 2. Don't try too hard its a f******g sink...

Lesson number 3 clamping chamferred edged pieces is really difficult and you end up with a visible glue line so you need to plan ahead and glue lots of little blocks as clamping aids with superglue. They then knock off with a hammer, HOWEVER do not use too much glue as the joint it stronger than the material and in one place where it glued a block to the worktop it removed a portion of the top which I then  ahd to fill, sand and polish. Its now visible (top left corner, lighter gray patch). Probably better to use hot melt glue for these clamping blocks.

In canse anyone is wondering, taps will go on the right hand side. I'm awaiting delivery of a Mechline Aquajet commercial spray arm tap arrangement so I can drill the holes.

One of the biggest problems is getting the glue. All this stuff is supposedly 'trade' only though some manufacturers are less strict than DuPont(corian). I bought my glue at £10 per 50m tube from a guy on eBay, who now has no black glue left so I need to source an alternative supplier.

Kittyfrisk

Sounds very interesting but I'm not seeing any images 
Might be just me but thought I'd mention it in case it is affecting others (or maybe there isn't anything to see?).

hywelg

Ahhh, ok ,I see the image. It's shared from Google pix.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/kfnEhSci8EgDsfdr8

Kittyfrisk

That's better thanks. Quite a construction  

SteveRobinson

Impressive! Will it stay up when you take the scaffolding away?

hywelg

SteveRobinson said:

Impressive! Will it stay up when you take the scaffolding away?

if it falls the crater will be visible from the moon, corian is incredibly heavy. one 3m x 0.75m x 12mm sheet weighs 50kg

Headphones

My experience with Corain sinks and sanitary ware is that it never feels clean, in the way that porcelain or SS does, feeling slightly soapy or rough.  I hope that's not a problem for yours.