First Corian

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jamesbil

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This is this afternoons work: Jr Gent in corian and Sierra in aincient Irish bog oak.
Both super hard. Any tips for turning corian? Almost an hour and a half to turn it!

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mark james

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Corian is on my short list (next 6 months), I have a bunch, so no thoughts from me. I have heard it is a bit easier than the hard tru stones, which I have worked with successfully.

But...both pens are beautiful! I will have no complaint if my first corian is as nice as yours! Well done.
 
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rtyler8140

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I find the hardest part about turning corian is getting it round. Once you get the edges off, it turns pretty easy. Still takes me a little longer to turn corian than wood, but the finish time is much quicker with corian. I use a carbide to get the blank round and then just my hss gouges to finish it off (usually sharpen them before I start).
 

Rockytime

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I just made this Corian Slimline. I have a number of 1/2" blanks I received from a member on this site. I was hesitant to try drilling the blanks because they are not square so they cannot be easily drilled on the lathe. I have a new drill vise which allowed me to drill the blank very accurately. I did turn the blank with carbide. It turned like a dream. I am very, very impressed with Corian.
 

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jamesbil

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Very nice, indeed !! ... What thickness of Corian did you start with ?
The corian is 12 mm thick so I glued 2 together with ca. That's probably why it took so long, turning from 24 mm!
I must make a corner jig to speed things up. Though I am a little nervous about cutting it on the bandsaw. I would imagine it will ruin blades.
I think I sharpened the gauge 6 or 7 times!
 

lwalper

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I've not really noticed Corian to be that much different than any of the other acrylic blanks. It actually seems to be a bit softer than some -- not quite so brittle or prone to chipping and gouging. Use sharp tools.
 

keithbyrd

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Very nice, indeed !! ... What thickness of Corian did you start with ?
The corian is 12 mm thick so I glued 2 together with ca. That's probably why it took so long, turning from 24 mm!
I must make a corner jig to speed things up. Though I am a little nervous about cutting it on the bandsaw. I would imagine it will ruin blades.
I think I sharpened the gauge 6 or 7 times!

I had no trouble turning it - sharp tools or carbide!
Your's is very nice by the way!
But cutting Corian did remove a lot of sharpness from my band saw blade!
 
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TonyL

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I have also found it more forgiving. Maybe there's more than one type of Corian-material, and I just happen to get the softer stuff? I know Corian is just a brand name.
 

tomtedesco

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I agree, cuts about the same as other acrylic blanks, round nose scraper also cuts well. Have you tried rounding the corners on a disk sander? Keeps your fingers away from a band saw blade.
 

jamesbil

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I agree, cuts about the same as other acrylic blanks, round nose scraper also cuts well. Have you tried rounding the corners on a disk sander? Keeps your fingers away from a band saw blade.

Did my second corian today in half the time!!.

Bit of an issue with the ca used on the end cap reacting with the gold plating after the cap was on the pen before it dried. No ca on the pen but is seems the fumes have tarnished it. Ideas?
 
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I have also found it more forgiving. Maybe there's more than one type of Corian-material, and I just happen to get the softer stuff? I know Corian is just a brand name.

Hi Tony,

There are quite a few Solid Surface materials out there, and some of them like Staron, Hi-Macs, Wilsonart/Gibraltar and a few others are almost identical to Corian in the way they behave when turning and gluing. These are all acrylics.

There are some others, Avonite comes to mind that make a Polyester type of solid surface material. Some of these can be quite nice for pen making, but many have different levels of translucency which would require painting. They tend to be more brittle and chippy than the acrylics, but not too bad to work with.

If you have a large solid surface fabricator anywhere nearby, they throw away more pen sized scraps than you can imagine. They might let you have bunch.

Bill
 
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