Jointing Corian worktops?

[Lons]

Hope this is the right category.

Has anybody jointed Corian worktops?

I have to make some structural alterations to a customers' kitchen walls and remodel some of the units. I also need to remove part of an existing Corian worktop and use some of the excess to extend the top.
This will reqire a simple edge to edge joint and as far as I know will need to be fabricated using specific colour matche cement.

I have worked corian and other acrylic "solids" many years ago but not in kitchens and have no experience. I do regularly fit granite tops though.

1). Is it difficult to joint?

2). Where can I get the cement (have done the usual searches and have emailed Dupont).

Any opinions would be welcomed

Bob

 

[Max Power]

You're probably better asking over the other side Lons, as some of the lads over there are corian fabricators

 

[Lons]

You're probably better asking over the other side Lons, as some of the lads over there are corian fabricators

What other side Alan? :duno:

 

[Mattty]

You're probably better asking over the other side Lons, as some of the lads over there are corian fabricators

What other side Alan? :duno:

http://www.woodworkuk.co.uk/forum/index.php

Great forum, Jonnys the man you want- but it's like asking a magician to tell you his secrets asking about corian!

 

[Lons]

You're probably better asking over the other side Lons, as some of the lads over there are corian fabricators

What other side Alan? :duno:

http://www.woodworkuk.co.uk/forum/index.php

Great forum, Jonnys the man you want- but it's like asking a magician to tell you his secrets asking about corian!

:lol: :lol:

 

[andy king]

Hi Lons,

I've used Corian type stuff over the years, initially fitting out flybridge cruisers in the galleys and heads, but also in household kitchens.
Fitting is easy enough, you have have a good fit on the join, but it can be plane and routed, as well as cut with circular saws.
There are special Corian router bits available - Trend do some if I recall,but i've always managed with normal TCT ones.
The adhesives are two pack, adhesive and catalyst, normally colour matched to the panels used, and you can have either a plastic pouch with the adhesive and catalyst in, or as a tube that mixes through the nozzle in a special silicone type gun.
It reacts with the Corian or similar, and basically melts and fuses the edges together.
You then simply sand it back through the grits until the join disappears. You then buff up the rest of the top as well as the join and it should look like one single piece.
Don't let the sander sit in one area too long though, you can easily dish it enough to show up if you polish it up to a high gloss. I use a random orbit sander and lambswool polishing bonnet when I do any.
I've used both types of adhesives, normally the pouch ones, but recently, my next door neighbour had a mishap and snapped the area in front of his hob, and I repaired it for him.
His worktop used a gun type adhesive and not having a gun of my own, he had to buy one, and that cost £80! Along with about £25 for a tube of adhesive, a costly mishap, but the resulting repair is very difficult to spot unless you know its there and where to look.
That was a Hi Mac worktop sold by Lathams.
You really need to find out the actual make and colour/code/name of the top you are working with to ensure you get a correct colour and compatible adhesive, but it's nothing too traumatic to work with, the only frihghtening thing is the price of it if you make a mistake!
I fitted a kitchen for a friend and it cost him over £3000 for his tops, so it really is a case of measure twice, and then a third time, before cutting once! :lol:
Hope this helps,

cheers,
Andy

 

[JoinerySolutions]

Just to add to Andy's answer, you can use biscuits for alignment purposes if required and you need to use good dust control or wear a mask as the dust is extremely fine and will get everywhere.

 

[JonnyD]

For joining the worktop you need to create a mirror joint . You place the wortops to be joined about 6mm apart and clamp them down. Using a router straightedge and 10mm bit you rout through both pieces at the same time to get a perfect joint. You can hotmelt a straightedge onto the corian directly if you want as it wont harm it. You will also have to reinforce the join with a cleat about 100mm wide to provide extra strength and glue area to the joint. Corian adhesive is about £3 a tube and is colour matched to the worktop which is sufficient for a joint and a 2 part gun around £20. For joining the tops together you can use some posh bessey suction clamps or hot melt some blocks onto the worktop and pull the joint closed by using f clamps. There are a few pics in this thread showing some corian work.

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/kitc ... chen%20wip

If you want to have a chat about it pm me your number.

cheers

jon

 

[Max Power]

Even better Lons , You got the "other side" over here :lol:

 

[Lons]

Thanks for all the info guys, that really is helpful

Job is going to be a ***** but I've got to do it as it's a regular customer and I get a lot of referals from her. She has additional work planned that I know of, (she hasn't told her hubby yet :lol: :lol: ) including fitted cupboards into several alcoves and an oak fire surround so worthwhile and enjoyable stuff.

Property is a conversion done about 20 years ago and has a large country kitchen with U shape corian worktop extended into 2 bay windowcills.
I will be removing the units along one end of the U. Demolishing the wall,and rebuilding it about 18" further back which will give them about 3'6" extra length on the kitchen to put a couple of armchairs.

It means that I therefore need to extend the existing worktop by that amount (1 straight joint) but has to be done in situ as I can't remove the main worktop!

They can't remember the colour (it's one of the whites) so I'll have to cut off a bit to try and colour match. Might be difficult due to age and wear and being a flat colour but i've told her not to expect a perfect joint although I want it as good as is physically possible.

Hope that makes some sort of sense!

Seems hardly worth the effort and expense to me but........it's what the customer wants. :roll:

Bob

 

[Rarara]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I am hoping Andy King or someone else could assist

Dropped a pointy object on a corian worktop, and taken a small chip out (few mm deep, maybe 5mm or so across at its widest - also the impact has made some of it go white, rather than the flat grey coulour it should be ).

Presumably the adhesive itself isn't a suitable hole filler? Should I....

1. Remove any of the white material (looks like it will flake off easily) damaged by impact
2. Try and get an offcut chip that fills the hole as much as possible
3. Use as little adhesive as possible??

The fitter was subcontracted by our kitchen company, so am struggling to get hold of him for either advice or to do the job. I imagine similar things are going to happen in the future, so probably be best if I can gain the skills to do small repairs myself.

 

[Lons]

The adhesive is colour matched and should be virtually invisible unless the top has a distinctive pattern. It isn't cheap though but better than a new worktop.

You will need to overfill and sand down the repair and some of the area around it, a ROS helps and you need to progress carefully to get down to the same level of finish.

Plenty of videos on youtube re solid surface joints and repairs and most are very similar to corian so do a search.

I recently filled a damage to my sons Mistral top, originally fitted by me and you have to look very hard indeed to spot it, luckily I had some adhesive left over which was ok even though 4 years old.

ps: yep remove any loose bits and clean thoroughly before applying adhesive

 

[Distinterior]

What is the name/colour of your Corian...?
As Lons stated, the adhesive is colour matched to the colour of the worktop. If you know the colour, we can tell you the colour of the adhesive you should use.

Before you try and fill the damage, you need to remove any loose material and thoroughly clean the area to be repaired with De - natured alcohol and allow it to evaporate dry.

To be honest with you, if the worktops have only been fitted recently, If I was you, I would continue to try and get hold of the Fitter that installed the worktops. It appears to be a fairly straightforward repair and it won't take him long to do.

 

[Rarara]

Hi Guys,

Many thanks for your advice so far. The colour is Silver Grey. From looking online it seems like I can buy Silver Grey adhesive(?).

In terms of the previous mention of "It reacts with the Corian or similar, and basically melts and fuses the edges together." do you reckon i can ignore the idea of using a smaller piece of corian to fill the hole, and just leave it solely to the adhesive?