# Making Corian Desk Top Holder   PDT



## pete00 (Jan 19, 2006)

A few folks emailed and wanted to know how i did my desk top thing-a-ma-gig, now know as PDT (petes desk top thing a ma gig) So hereâ€™s the general idea. This is how i did it, there may be eaiser,safer,faster ways.

DANGER
Never having cut small pieces like this before it was a learning experience. A few badly designed jigs caused kickbacks and pieces of Corian flying everywhere. I ended up wearing a full face shield and gloves.  

It helps if your table saw or miter saw has a zero clearance insert (no space between blade and side) After cutting material turn off power to blade and let blade stop before backing up or taking out material.  I donâ€™t have band saw, but all this should apply as well.

After using this setup and jig to cut the material, there were no more pieces flying and no kickbacks, so I took off my suit of armor. Just keep face shield.

From one piece of 4x4x1/2 â€œ  tile you can make
One PDT and pen, with or with out business card holder
Or Two slim line pens

Basic steps
cut off two Â½ inches pieces for pen from tile.








make pen first, if you drill through side you can cut off another piece. Then make base smaller. Not that I ever did that. Cut, trim, drill and make pen 

I left sides of the base with factory rounded over edge
If you using square stock round over edge, if you want.

If youâ€™re making the smaller version, no business card, cut sides off at 45 deg.
Keep cutting small slices off sides until you like the way it looks.

Cut a 1/8 slot for business card, Â¼ inch deep, and about 1/8 inch from ends. I used a plunge cut with router table. Thats a business card on top of tile to help measure. Side stops help control length of cut. Center line on back board is where drill bit is.











For small pen holder cut 10mm hole, 1/4to  3/8 inch in from the top, any lower and it may drill through. 






Test depth with gauge, if you push pen holder in while testing fit, it will stick. You need small strong wire with hook on end to lift it out. DONâ€™T pry it up on outside with screwdriver youâ€™ll mark up surface, and then youâ€™ll need to sand and buff, not that I did that.

If all went well your ready to cut the bottom.
Set miter saw to 10 degree angle. Put in miter saw jig.
Youll have to do a few test cuts with scrap wood to find out where it cuts and to see if piece lays flat on surface. Adjust in and out until its doesnt rock, then save for future cutting. Make sure your test wood is the same thickness and length as your finished tile.
Otherwise you'll spend a day trying to figure out why nothing fits.
Not that i did that.














 Bring blade up against jig to fine tune the position of the blade. Use scrap piece to test cut, if all is well save this piece for later use in setting up the jig.  Put in block of Corian back side out, cut side on top. Use piece of wood on side of Corian to act as a stop and push stick. 






Use light pressure while bringing down blade. Use scrap piece of wood first to check cut and then mark the top so you know what side to cut. No fun cutting wrong side and watching the hole fall off, not that ive done that.

Using Table saw
On my saw I set the blade angle to 8 deg. I used the same jig but added a top and a back  screwed on to hold things in place. After cutting let blade stop turning before you back up and remove stock.











Sand and buff as needed, sand off sharp edge as well. I use drill press with soft sanding disk covered with rag and Novus2.

Glue pen holder in hole, USE SMALL SMALL drop on side of holder, or bottom of hole. If you use more, the glue will come back out the hole and spread all around the outside of the pen holder. This is almost impossible to get rid of without scratching and buffing away gold plating, not that ive done that.


One PDT kit packaged, waiting to build







Buff pen and base.assemble.one whole family of PDTs...i done that !











Hope it helped and you have fun making these, I did. If you donâ€™t have a saw let me know ill cut some for you, so you too can play.

pete


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## Dario (Jan 19, 2006)

Neat tutorial.  Wish I have the tools/equipment to attempt this.

Thanks for sharing!


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## pete00 (Jan 19, 2006)

Dario
...im sure we clould swap somethig[][]
like a few cut PDT sets ..for a few cut pieces of wood.....[][][]
pete


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## Dario (Jan 19, 2006)

Tempting offer.

Let me know what colors you have and I'll see if anything strikes my fancy.  You know I haven't turned "synthetic" material yet?  I have a few blanks waiting (and have some ordered from Andrea) but still haven't turned any to date yet.


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## JimGo (Jan 19, 2006)

Pete, thanks for the tutorial!


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## pete00 (Jan 19, 2006)

Your Welcome Jim
Ive ah...borrowed...ah learned...found....well mabey the word is stolen plenty of ideas here.
Now that ive repaid ..i dont have any guilt for stealing another years worth of ideas [][][}][][}][]

sure hope i get to see st peter and not the other guy downstairs...[}]


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## jimbo 31751 (Jan 20, 2006)

Thanks for the tutorial Pete, very informative.


Jim


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## KenV (Jan 21, 2006)

Thanks Pete --  You are showing signs of leading Dario down to the slippery slope.  That is ok -- there are many throwing cans of grease behind him.

Thought about double side tape or hot melt glue for holding the corian in the jig?  I could not see how you were securing it from movement.

Thanks again


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## pete00 (Jan 21, 2006)

Ken

in pic #6 miter saw the 2 x4 block holds it in while cutting, light pressure applied to corian as blade comes down.

in pic 8 an 9 table saw, the piece is held in place against the backstop by the saw blade.

try a few peices of wood to get the feel.

thanks....pete


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## elody21 (Feb 3, 2006)

Pete, Great tutorial!!!!! Love it!!!!!!


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## Radman (Feb 3, 2006)

Hey Pete... Thanks for sharing that with us. The pictures you included really helped.  That's some really fine work there.
Thanks again!
Radman[8D]


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## pete00 (Feb 3, 2006)

glad you like it radman thanks

and ...."queen of corian" im really glad you liked it......[][]


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## Thumbs (Feb 4, 2006)

Pete, Where did you get the pen holder fitting? Cost &/or Part #, too?  Thanks![]


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## pete00 (Feb 5, 2006)

Bob

I got the pen holders from woodcraft.com, pt# 127132 and 127131
I think they were something like .85 or so.
One is for the slimline and a bigger one for the euro style .

Also check out pensupplies for a universal pen funnel #pk1225.
These will allow you to slant the holder on a flat base.

Lets see what else did you ask. Flat Sanding, couple ways, hand sander and belt sander, and by hand. The top was buffed with novus2 (plastic polisher)

good luck on your show, and show me a picture of your end results......
i'll probably add some of your ideas to my list of stolen ideas as well..[][]


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## Mudder (Feb 5, 2006)

Pete,

This tutorial is excellent!
It would be a nice addition to the tutorials section on this site if you so desire. I sent you an email.


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## Thumbs (Feb 5, 2006)

Great job, Pete!  Thanks![]


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## kgwaugh (Feb 5, 2006)

GREAT tutorial, Pete, Thanks for sharing it with us!!

One really easy/cheap way to come up with an effective zero clearance plate is to just plunge-cut a piece of masonite or similar material.  Yes, you have to consider how to work around the miter gauge, etc., but I have even covered the entire left side of my table with 1/8" masonite, leaving just the miter gauge slot exposed.  This still leaves it's guide bar enough engagement to track.

Again, Thanks.

Gene


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