# Which glue for corian?



## Drogo

I've got a bunch of corian, and was wondering what the best adhesive would be for gluing my blank halves together? All the pieces are 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 x 1/2, so I'm planning to cut 1" wide strips and glue them together.

I've made a few so far using medium CA, but a nagging doubt has come up about its longevity. Will my pen one day just up and split in half?  I made a cigar pen for my brother that eventually had the bottom half come loose. That was CA. These will be kitless pens, mostly for my experimentation/learning. 

I considered purchasing the actual corian epoxy, but I'm not positive of the colors, and at $50 a tube....sheesh.

So, anyone have any long-term experience with this?

Thanks.


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## Magicbob

I make allot of thing out of corian, I use 15 minute epoxy most of the time.
For pins, I cut 1" squares, and glue them up on end, I have had too many split when glued the other way. In fact lately I drill the hole in the 1x1s and glue them up on the tube. The corian being 1/2 " thick I end up longer than the tube and I clamp them overnight to dry.

Good luck, it is a fun material to turn, I've made pens, bowls, & shaving kits love it.


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## The Penguin

One of the more experienced turners in our club makes hollow forms out of glued up Corian.

He uses medium and thick CA.


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## mark james

Wait...  Posting that was just not fair...  That is an amazing project!

My glue-ups with medium CA look like a tree stump...:embarrassed:

Very Nice!!!




The Penguin said:


> One of the more experienced turners in our club makes hollow forms out of glued up Corian.
> 
> He uses medium and thick CA.


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## plantman

I use thick or gap filling CA on my corian projects. It fills viods and gives me a little more working time to align sections.  Jim  S


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## plantman

The Penguin said:


> One of the more experienced turners in our club makes hollow forms out of glued up Corian.
> 
> He uses medium and thick CA.



Fantastic craftsmanship !!!!  Do you know what the size is, and if it was turned in two pieces (neck and body) and glued together or as a solid piece ???    Jim  S


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## The Penguin

If my recollection is correct, the piece above was about 8" tall

I believe it was not made from segmented rings, but instead one-piece rings that were glued up and turned 1 or 2 layers at a time.






here's a corian piece of his with a segmented feature ring


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## Drogo

WHOA!! That's fantastic!!

I'll experiment a bit with both epoxy and CA, but it sounds like CA isn't such a bad choice. Thanks everyone!

And sheesh. That vase is awesome!!

Edit:  Just saw the second one. Again, amazing work!


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## jttheclockman

The segmented vase or open vessel is amazing. To be done with corian which basically is a plastic is great . the photo is clear and what is even more fantastic is the seams are undetectable. To get that kind of accuracy takes skill. Thanks for showing.


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## raar25

FYI the counter guy I bought some corian from told me they use CA to join counter seams.  CA and Corian are very close in chemical composition so they expand and contract at the same rate, so no cracking.


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## The Penguin

jttheclockman said:


> The segmented vase or open vessel is amazing. To be done with corian which basically is a plastic is great . the photo is clear and what is even more fantastic is the seams are undetectable. To get that kind of accuracy takes skill. Thanks for showing.


 
I like bragging on my friend. LOL


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## jttheclockman

The Penguin said:


> jttheclockman said:
> 
> 
> 
> The segmented vase or open vessel is amazing. To be done with corian which basically is a plastic is great . the photo is clear and what is even more fantastic is the seams are undetectable. To get that kind of accuracy takes skill. Thanks for showing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I like bragging on my friend. LOL
Click to expand...



Oh brag away. I can only wish I can do work like that. I am a sucker for segmented work and marvel all the time at what those people can do with wood or in this case plastic. Before I leave this time on earth I sure hope to pick up these skillsets. I am running out of time though


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## tomtedesco

About 7 years ago I used medium CA to make soap dish and toothbrush holder out of cut outs from a bathroom remodel, no problems as of yet.


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## duncsuss

jttheclockman said:


> The Penguin said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jttheclockman said:
> 
> 
> 
> The segmented vase or open vessel is amazing. To be done with corian which basically is a plastic is great . the photo is clear and what is even more fantastic is the seams are undetectable. To get that kind of accuracy takes skill. Thanks for showing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I like bragging on my friend. LOL
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Oh brag away. I can only wish I can do work like that. I am a sucker for segmented work and marvel all the time at what those people can do with wood or in this case plastic. Before I leave this time on earth I sure hope to pick up these skillsets. I am running out of time though
Click to expand...


I agree these vases/hollowforms are superb.

That said, some of us remember a couple of pens that you made a while back, John (I could probably find the pix if I tried!) Your segmenting skills are pretty darned impressive.


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## jttheclockman

duncsuss said:


> jttheclockman said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The Penguin said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jttheclockman said:
> 
> 
> 
> The segmented vase or open vessel is amazing. To be done with corian which basically is a plastic is great . the photo is clear and what is even more fantastic is the seams are undetectable. To get that kind of accuracy takes skill. Thanks for showing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I like bragging on my friend. LOL
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> Oh brag away. I can only wish I can do work like that. I am a sucker for segmented work and marvel all the time at what those people can do with wood or in this case plastic. Before I leave this time on earth I sure hope to pick up these skillsets. I am running out of time though
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I agree these vases/hollowforms are superb.
> 
> That said, some of us remember a couple of pens that you made a while back, John (I could probably find the pix if I tried!) Your segmenting skills are pretty darned impressive.
Click to expand...




Duncan

Thanks for the props but to these guys what i do is nowhere near the skills needed. The use of wood colors and patterns just make you scratch your head as to how did they do that. Will always be in awe of work like that. I can look at photos with segmented work all day and never tire of it. Items like this are true segmented work. There is one technique that I am still trying to figure out. The person who designed it will not give away all the secrets but did give me some breadcrumbs and someday I want to incorporate it into a pen.


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## H2O

Solid surface is adhered with epoxy tinted the color of the base material. Use an epoxy and sand the base solid surface to get dust. Add the dust to the epoxy and it will match perfectly. Solid surface only has one finished side, so this method helps to fill the uneven surface without a lot of extra work.
CA (superglue) will certainly bond the material, however, there are issues using it. First, it doesn't fill in the uneven surface without leaving a discernible seam. CA doesn't accept the dust filling for the color match, so there will be a clear seam, unless extra time is afforded to smooth the surface. Also, CA is brittle and has very low shear strength. It doesn't thermal exercise well. All solid surface is not made with the same formula and all of the manufacturers and distributors that I have dealt with, suggest either their brand of adhesive (of coarse), or a quality epoxy.
I have used several brands of epoxy, with different open times, and after 20 years, I haven't had any failures...yet.:redface:


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## Akula

15 minute epoxy and clamps

just take your time


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## Leviblue

Magicbob said:


> I make allot of thing out of corian, I use 15 minute epoxy most of the time.
> For pins, I cut 1" squares, and glue them up on end, I have had too many split when glued the other way. In fact lately I drill the hole in the 1x1s and glue them up on the tube. The corian being 1/2 " thick I end up longer than the tube and I clamp them overnight to dry.
> 
> Good luck, it is a fun material to turn, I've made pens, bowls, & shaving kits love it.



+1 one this method


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## eharri446

*Corian for Pen Blanks*

AlosI went to one of the larger shops which do counter tops in Atlanta and spoke with one of their CORIAN people. What he told me caught me by surprise. He told me that they consider anything smaller than 30" by 20" to be waste material and they toss it out.

He gave me three pieces, two were a nice color of gray. The other one was white with different colors running through it as streaks. What was funny was that the white one has more pronounced color patterns on the un-polished side than the polished side.

I also was able to get a tube of the glue that they use along with 5 mixing tips for $37.50. The one tube is enough to glue up a 1" strip twelve feet long. That can make a lot of pen blanks.

I am going to glue two strips of the white together and put the polished side on the inside since the coloration is stronger on the un-polished side. 

Once I get the strips made I will turn one into a pen and post a picture of it. May take awhile though.

Also forgot to mention that you can order samples from DuPont from 2X2, 4X4, or 10X10 and they have some amazing colors.

There are also a couple of other manmade materials which you can order samples for which have some stunning colors.


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## Magicbob

here is a shaving kit I made from corian.
I wet sand both sides ( glue a piece of 100 grit to a 12x12 piece of corian for a flat surface sander) .
I use 15 minute epoxy and clamp it TIGHT.
As you can see, no lines


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## jttheclockman

MagicBob doing his magic. Looks good. Get some nice colors with that product.


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## jttheclockman

Not sure why my post did not show up but I wanted to say MaicBob is showing us some more magic. Nice work on this set and you sure can get some nice colors with that material. Good job and thanks for showing.


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