Corian and CSUSA Slimlines

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jasontg99

jasontg99

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I was just wondering if anyone else has experienced issues with CSUSA black TI slimline kits and corian? I have used PSI slimline kits and corian with no issues, but I recently bought some CSUSA kits because they are cheaper AND I like the clips better. I made 6 corian pens and out of the 6, three cracked with the CSUSA kits. Oh yea, I also used a chmfering bit after the first one cracked, but it did not seem to help with the rest. Am I the only one?
 
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I have no direct experience with those kits and corian to relate, but will throw out a couple thoughts here.
The fittings may be tighter in the tubes, so when you press them in the tube
there is not enough expansion room between the outside of tube and inside of hole.
two things to maybe look at.. drill size and glue.
A 9/32" drill will give more room for expansion than a 7mm drill.
A super rigid glue bond like CA or even epoxy will also contribute, many have had
great luck with the polyurethane type glues.
 
Back in the fall I was rushing to get a bunch of slimlines done and also had a problem with them cracking. These were ones from PSI but done with wood not corian, and glued up using CA. I think three of the first five I tried to assemble cracked. The problem with me was I didn't clear the glue from inside the tubes enough. I also use a chamferring tool as well as the vargus tool from johnnycnc (not sure if both are needed but using both changed my luck and I am supersticious). I now use an x-acto knife and a brush to clear any remaining glue and haven't had a problem since. Hope this helps, Bill.
 
I will sometimes use a rifle bore cleaning brush to cleaar the insides of tubes. You have to be carefuel as the wire bristles can take off too much of the tube's insides and cause the fitting to be too loose.
 
Bill,

Thanks for the reply, but I take extra care to remove any and all epoxy from the inside of the tube (rarely happens now). So I am beginning to move towards what johhnyc said about the rigid glue bond.

Jason
 
Again, this is only with the CSUSA kit and not the PSI kit. The CSUSA kit has what looks to be a "retaining clip" in the finial. I think this is the culprit causing the pressure, which in turn is causing the cracks. Is there a solution to keep this from happening?
 
Jason,

When working with Corian your tube to component alignment has to be spot on....You can push through a misalignment with wood but with Corian, it will crack.

I have made many a Corian pen and haven't had one crack (knocking on wood :cool:). I shouldn't have said that!!

Be extremely careful aligning the components and tubes.
 
Are you mixing tubes between the kits fo different manufacturers/retailers , knowingly or unknowingly?

I did have a problem in the past because some of the kits come with a thicker-walled tube than others, and mixing between different retailers would cause issues during assembly sometimes

Jerry
 
PTownSubbie said:
Jason,

When working with Corian your tube to component alignment has to be spot on....You can push through a misalignment with wood but with Corian, it will crack.

I have made many a Corian pen and haven't had one crack (knocking on wood :cool:). I shouldn't have said that!!

Be extremely careful aligning the components and tubes.
Click to expand...

I was just about to post the same advice... I think I crack more pens by not being aligned properly... any angle will put pressure where you don't want it.
 
JerrySambrook said:
Are you mixing tubes between the kits fo different manufacturers/retailers , knowingly or unknowingly?

I did have a problem in the past because some of the kits come with a thicker-walled tube than others, and mixing between different retailers would cause issues during assembly sometimes

Jerry
Click to expand...

I think we have a winner. That is exactly what I did. Now to find out if using the tubes from CSUSA will fix the problem.

THANKS!!!
 
jasontg99 said:
Again, this is only with the CSUSA kit and not the PSI kit. The CSUSA kit has what looks to be a "retaining clip" in the finial. I think this is the culprit causing the pressure, which in turn is causing the cracks. Is there a solution to keep this from happening?
Click to expand...

I have had a few cases of this reported .... a friend of mine who turns about everything in corian told me that it might be fixed by leaving a little more material on the end of the barrel when you turn the pen.
 
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