I've got a customer who wants to drill holes in Corian and other synthetic granite substances. The hole size is 1-1/4" diameter.
Anyone know of a chart to figure out RPM, HP, Thrust or any other info?
Thanks for anything you can offer.
Regards, Joe Agro, Jr. (800) 871-5022
Corian is basically mineral-loaded plexiglass, so water cooling is likely to be necessary to prevent melting. I would suggest going to the local Corian dealer or the DuPont website
Joe Gwinn
Since DuPont sells Corian for a lot of technical and commercial uses, they probably have the best data:
Corian is an acrylic-matrix composite. I don't recall what the mineral filler is -- maybe gypsum. Anyway, it's more like an abrasive plastic than a mineral. Other synthetics are made of different materials and probably require a different approach.
Good luck.
-- Ed Huntress
Agreed. I'm open to any tooling ideas too... As long as I can figure out HP, thrust, etc. I can put a greased automobile key into a chuck if that works for the customer. :)
The basic concept is to keep it as cool as possible so I'm thinking that a fluted hole saw or even spade drill-type tool would work best with water based coolant... See below for context based on a discussion with a DuPont person...
Ya know sumthin... I just tried that. Their web page:
Okay... Redemption. Received the name of a gentleman who represents DuPont on "special" Corian jobs. He was able to tell me it machines just like hard maple or hickory (too bad I can't use it in my smoker...)
It expands when worked and heated so keeping everything slow and cool is a must or use water-based flood coolant. It is not abrasive at all - about the same as talc.
So... Now the big question is... Will this work... I'm thinking 400 RPM,
1.5 HP, .010 feed and around 300 lbs. thrust...I'll let you know! And if anyone needs lots of Corian or tech answers regarding working Corian, I've got just the contact for you... The guy is great. Just eMail me off-line.
Regards, Joe Agro, Jr. (800) 871-5022
Ed,
Thanks. The abrasive material is alumi-somthing... I forget. Bottom line is that it is about as abrasive as talc... Not too bad. The key is keeping it cool when driling or heating it to 385 degrees and punching out the holes if the tolerances are not a real big issue. It "warps" a bit but is easily made flat again.
Yeah, I saw your message about five minutes too late. I see you've already been through the list of usual suspects.
You should be an expert on it soon, Joe. Let us know. I may have to cut and drill some of the stuff myself, later this summer.
-- Ed Huntress
It's not anywhere near as hard as stone, it's usually worked with woodworking tools. It's a filled plastic substance as are its competitors, some form of acrylic from the smell. I'd use a hole saw for that large of a hole. I've messed with offcuts, turning knobs and such for projects, it's about like working hardwood except for the dust. They use wood routers and a special bit for prepping edges for joining up panels for countertops, there's also a special glue that supposed to be used that you can only get from certified and blessed franchisees. If your customer is going to be doing a lot of it, he probably needs to get hooked up as a Corian outlet with the manufacturer and then he can get all those technical details filled in for free. Dupont gets pretty pissy about the general public doing anything with it, might be he needs to look at a different brand. I like the material, don't like the attitude that comes with it.
Stan
So I noticed on my very first call to them... I basically hung up on their rep... Probably at the same time she was hanging up on me.
Second call to them was blessed by God and went smooth as can be. Lots of good info...
Define expert... :)
I have a large chunk of it myself, been meaning to make a vanity top (special shape for our pentagonal bathroom....) for the longest time.
What does one use for gluing it?
Jim
Somebody who knows 12 ways to screw the job up, and one way that doesn't. d8-)
-- Ed Huntress
You might be overthinking this. I work it with woodworking power tools, and have never had a problem. A standard bi-metal holesaw will cut your hole.
Sad. I remember when it came out, Pop Mech or Pop Sci had a big article on how it was the do-it-yourselfer's dream, the look of stone with the ease of work of hardwood.
Well, "ex-" means "has-been", and a spurt is a drip under pressure. So, an expert then, is a has-been drip, under pressure.
Probably... But I'd hate to send a multi-tousand dollar piece of machinery out to Bucksnort, wherever and then have to either visit the site to make it work or send parts back and forth as they adjust it...
As discussed below, if it's only for one or two holes, just cut it dry but real slow. If it's more than a few holes, set up a water flood. Don't know that I would use any oil, even soluable oil. Many plastics will craze some time later.
You know, I never called them, always doing my research on their website. It sounds like they are protecting their authorized dealer-fabricators. The other fear is that untrained people will have problems getting the details right, and will give the material a bad name. I doubt that urban versus rural has anything to do with it.
I would just have at some scrap pieces. I don't think it's all that difficult to machine.
Use a tct woodworking router with a two flute 1/2" shank straight bit.
10x 60t tct tcg saws work about as good as anything. Forget Dupont they are jerks to deal with. The stuff is quite abrasive because it's basically glass filled so you might not want it near your machine toolsto figure sfpm figure a 1/2" router is turning 20,000 rpm
Corian is a plastic product and is fabricated with woodworking tools. A hole saw should work fine for the hole. It is not, however, synthetic granite, and I assume by that you are referring to "Silestone", "Avanza", or the like. These are quartz products and will require granite fabrication tools to work. The hole would be cut with an abrasive holesaw in a water cooling bath. I watched a guy use modeling clay to make a dam around the hole to hold the water in before he applied the saw.
Gary Brady
Cuts fine with any carbide tools - speed is largely irrelvant.
I use everything from routers to milling machines and drill presses on it. Real Corian we're talking. The other competetive products may and do work somewhat differently. Some are softer, some harder.
Corian will polish up nicely, just like an automotive paint process - use the same methods. Sweet stuff.
Expensive.
Use a fine tooth blade for the saw, use BREATHING PROTECTION. The DUST is BAD!!
They do sell special blades for cutting it, but in anything less than a volume production situation, that's meaningless.
You can see a "granite look" corian front panel on my website:
The one that is on the main page is NOT corian, it is faux soapstone, and had to be cut to size by the local stone fab house. (Diamond, water cooled, etc). I was able to drill the holes myself, with carbide masonry bits - extra nasty dust. But not too many too do.
Corian is nice by comparison.
_-_-bear
Like I said, there's a purpose-made adhesive for it that's only available to the chosen few. I've seen large countertops that were fabricated using the right stuff that you couldn't see the joints between the slabs. Not sure if it's a solvent-type adhesive or an epoxy system. I've read some articles where some guys using offcuts and scraps to make knobs and larger turnings used clear Devcon epoxy to stack pieces up to make turning blanks, worked out fine for them. I imagine that if you were doing like a backsplash to go with the countertop that the clear epoxy would work just fine if you got your cuts true. Edge butt joints might not be so good. Stan
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