Has anyone ever considered using Corian for stiffness under a wasteboard. It is relatively heavy, stiff and machinable. It’s also somewhat brittle although that may not be a disadvantage. I’m thinking of a piece 3/4" thick.
I see zero mention of it on this forum and barely a mention in the Shapeok forum - at least for that intended purpose. Just wondering!
I think it would be an excellent option — how well does it take threads? Would it be possible to install threaded inserts?
Seems reasonable to me… I bet you could find a cabinet or kitchen shop with sink cutouts or some other scraps you could test machinability on.
I had used melamine for a while until I chewed it all up…lol was too lazy to get a new sheet and had some MDF laying around, so I’m using that until that’s all tore up.
Big warning , dust collection at maximum levels, a scroll sawer uses corian alot and says he uses an air pack respirator because the stuff is so dangerous to breathe in the dust. Sharp razor blades the slice into your trachea and lungs and don’t cough out. Please check into the risks before you buy the stuff, like I’ve said before “DANGER WILL ROBINSON DANGER”,
with this stuff YMWV, (your milage won’t vary).
Fair comment. Having played with a small amount of the stuff I can understand:
My thoughts was not to mill it but have it cut to size by supplier. Nor was it my thought to use it as a wasteboard, only as a base for an MDF wasteboard fitted with T-nuts.
I’d love the stuff except for that, I just finished my new base plate of pvc sheet. Two 1/2" layers glued with pipe cement, I took a vee tool and hand carved some grooves in one side and drilled a hole for a vacuum fitting, when I put them together I hooked it up to the vacuum pump and drew 11 lbs of vacuum to suck the air out and hopefully secure the faces together. Drilled holes for the edge bolts and bolted to the frame of my SO3. Letting it cure tonight and as soon as I finish my torroidal spiral dust collector, I’ll cut the vacuum slots and holes for the vacuum table. Jude
Taps very well indeed. This hole is tapped M6 and is 18mm deep. I cannot strip the thread even with a fair bit off leverage. As for fitting threaded inserts, unsure but why worry if threads work OK.
That’s excellant Patrick, Why is there always one more way to improve what one has worked so hard on perfecting just to see that there’s another idea worth developing? If I redo my setup (which I always do anyway) I will do a corian base plate drilled and threaded, recessed and sure to remain flat and square unless I find a slab of granite which would involve lots of experimenting to get threads it in. Corian is a good option IMO and as long as you don’t mill it, and isn’t corian fairly flat for countertops anyways? Good thinking and thanks for the “steerage of me thoughts”, off to the googling of the corian.
Before I went with my last MDF board, I found a listing on Craigslist for various off-cuts of Corian.
Figuring the guy was a fabricator that might have a big CNC router, I asked if he’d be able to machine it to size for me.
For a standard-size SO3, he quoted me “oh about $100” for the Corian + machining (cutting to size, and drilling the holes needed for mounting it).
Seeing as I might eventually start using coolants/lubricants, I did a little research and found Corian isn’t as chemical resistant as HDPE, so I might end-up using HDPE instead.
@patonclover Corian is basically acrylic with fillers, so it cuts very similarly, and machines very nicely (I’ve made a few small things out of countertop samples from the local Home Depot & Lowes). Definitely keep the respiratory health stuff in mind though.
I agree with @cgallery on using HDPE, and it’s what my machine is currently on. It’s also stable, heavy, chemical resistant, takes threads for mounting the machine frame, and machines well WITHOUT creating dust, since it comes off in the most beautiful curls instead of dust. You can’t see it too well here, because I have a sacrificial piece of 1/8" plywood under the workpiece (tooling board) but you get the idea with the aluminum t-track mounted in slots in it:
Well I have to say I am shocked, the reason - price quoted for a piece of Corian. I am aware that we here in Australia pay significantly more for a lesser range of products than you in the US.
But, $AUD737 (581 USD) for an offcut measuring 1040 mm x 580 mm x 12 mm thick (Shapeoko 3xl) is a bit past a joke. To get 19 mm thick I have to purchase a full sheet or enough to make 3 bases and that works out about the same price for each base.
I would be interested if anyone knows what you pay in the US for this material.
The price for HDPE is a bit more sobering. Same dimensions but 15mm thick $AU115, I would prefer 19mm. This is the way I will go, thanks for the suggestion:
Great googly boogly that’s a lot of greenbacks… or… whatever sort of back you have down-under?
Stateside it’d be hard to get a “real” buy of that material in that size - most shops have a minimum they will sell you, and it’s in the 20 ft^2 range, hence my suggestion on the cut off or sink cut out.
All the same, the safety concerns brought up by the others make a lot of sense, I’m no familiar with the composition of Corian, but I wouldn’t mess with your lungs.
HDPE might be the route to go…
Yes, but that was the price of an ‘offcut’.
We don’t call them greenbacks down here in fact I don’t think we have a colloquial expression for them at all except for the Americanism that seems to have seeped into our language - ‘bucks’.
Gah, for an offcut!? Criminals.
I think you need to find someone that manufacturers kitchen counters and tell them you want a solid-surface “drop” large enough for your needs.
Don’t specify Corian, there are plenty of competitors that are equivalent and work just as well.
It cannot be that much more expensive down there.
craiglist Florida
Corian for Sale ($250.00 per pallet) - $250 (Palm City) hide this posting
1
condition: new
make / manufacturer: Corian
$250.00 per pallet of Corian Pieces!!!
50 pieces are on a pallet
there are deals, but you have to search hard and be ready to spend at a drop of a hat.
I haven’t cut Corian specifically, but I’ve cut Candlestone, which is supposed to be the same thing and all I can say is it cuts nice and it definitely can be threaded. I made some clamps out of it and threaded the backs for 1/4-20 fasteners. I’ve used them a bunch and the only issue I’ve had is that it’s brittle. I’ve barely overtorqued clamps and had them fail (1/4" thick). As a wasteboard it might be ok at 3/4" thick as long as you don’t go “Full Gorilla” when you tighten your clamps. And I wouldn’t use inserts at all, thread the actual material. I suspect putting inserts into it would cause cracking, and the threaded material will work just as well.
Dan
