One for Keith

[Scott Shepherd]

Thought you'd enjoy the photo Keith. This batch pushes the total for this order to just over 300. Black sure is expensive......

268189

[Dan Hintz]

Thickness?

[Scott Shepherd]

1/2" thick Black Corian.

[Keith Outten]

Steve,

Looks familiar :) Are they Corian door signs?

I have a 30" by 37" piece of black Corian on my router right now, its waiting for me to route a directory for an Allstate office. This is a job that I have had on the back burner for months, its finally made front and center.

I just ordered another full sheet of black Corian for a big sign job I was awarded by the US Army. A 4 foot by 5 foot pearl gray Corian sign with a black Corian border. This one is going to tax my resources because it has a very large flag in the center that has to be dye-sublimated, then text laser engraved over top of the flag.

Don't know where all this black Corian work came from, I don't even like to work with the stuff because it is a bear to polish.
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[Scott Shepherd]

Yes, those are door signs. Finished about (50) 18" x 24" stairwell signs from Corian last week. Had a 2" white header at the top, Corian, fused together with their adhesive, then sanded smooth on all the faces. Was working on the last one when they came to pick them up, didn't get a single picture of them. Hate it when that happens.

I'm not a fan of the black either for the same reasons. We found a good mesh sanding disc at Woodcraft that seems to work well. Of course it has to be done in stages, so it's all time consuming. Plus making the edges look like the face was a challenge we had to figure out.

I think we did 5-6 sheets of black in the last month. Love working with Corian, just wish everyone would use white :) Don't have to hardly touch white after working with it.

Sounds like a fun project you have Keith. Share some photos when you get it done. If you ever need help, we're just down the road :)

[Wes Mitchell]

Keith, assuming you have the standard 16x20 heat press, how do you go about pressing the sublimated center, or do you press a separate piece and insert it in the middle? Sounds like maybe it's time for a 44x64 Maxi-Press? :p

[Peter Meacham]

Keith, et al

Sorry to hi-jack the thread, but can Corian be directly sublimated?, that is, it does not require a polymer coating?

If so, what would be the time and temp for .5" White please. I'm sure this question would be of interest to many.

Thanks, Pete

[Scott Shepherd]

Peter, it can, without any coatings. Keith has detailed the process in a post here somewhere. It takes a long time. Like 20 minutes at a lower temperature and after it comes out the press, you have to clamp it in something flat or it will curl really bad. I've done it a few times. Keith's had better luck making money with it than I have. I can't deal with the long times in the press.

[Peter Meacham]

OK Scott, I found it, Thanks very much

"Twenty minutes at 320 degrees F will allow the dye to penetrate the Corian substrate several thousandths on an inch deep" Courtesy of Keith.

[Keith Outten]

Wes,

I have a small George Knight 16" by 14" press and a larger 24" by 30".

I plan to remove the top section of the large press and set it in the middle of the Corian sign in order to press the US Flag which is 24" by 19". The flag is a medium gray graphic that will be behind the unit text that is to be laser engraved and paint filled. There is a small unit multi-colored logo in the upper right corner of the sign that I will dye-sublimate first.

I looked at the Maxi-Press, I think the size was 32" by 42" but the price was a bit steep at $8,600.00 and I found out the Felder sells big presses that start at 29K and require 3 phase electricity which I don't have in my shop.

I plan to start this job tomorrow morning and will be sure to take lots of pictures.

Peter, take a look at my sign shop web site there are a couple dye-sub pictures in my portfolio that you may find interesting.
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[Art Mann]

Wes,

I have a small George Knight 16" by 14" press and a larger 24" by 30".

I plan to remove the top section of the large press and set it in the middle of the Corian sign in order to press the US Flag which is 24" by 19". The flag is a medium gray graphic that will be behind the unit text that is to be laser engraved and paint filled. There is a small unit multi-colored logo in the upper right corner of the sign that I will dye-sublimate first.

I looked at the Maxi-Press, I think the size was 32" by 42" but the price was a bit steep at $8,600.00 and I found out the Felder sells big presses that start at 29K and require 3 phase electricity which I don't have in my shop.

I plan to start this job tomorrow morning and will be sure to take lots of pictures.

Peter, take a look at my sign shop web site there are a couple dye-sub pictures in my portfolio that you may find interesting.
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The last I heard, you hadn't gotten your website going yet. I just took a look and it is very, very nice.

[Keith Outten]

Thanks Art,

All these years I had a simple web page with my phone number and email link and that was about it. Now that I am back in my shop full time again it was time to take Mike Null's advice and get a comprehensive web site for my sign shop. I still have some tuning and tweaking to do but I'm pleased with the site for the most part. I have more pictures for the Portfolio section, they will be uploaded in a few more days.
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[Art Mann]

Adding more pictures was the only suggestion for improvement I could think of.

[Keith Outten]

I have a sign 48" by 60" Corian project that is just about finished that I hope some of you will appreciate. I should be able to post pictures late this afternoon or this evening as I am doing the paint fill of the text this morning. This one has a 24" by 20" dye-sub flag in the center of the sign, I will let you guys and gals ponder how I did the dye-sub graphic in the middle of this one with a 24 by 30 heat press.

Two more sign jobs in house to finish before I start machining the final pieces for the 17" tall Yankee Fence model normally referred to as the Frieze (http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Yankee-stadium-frieze.jpg&imgrefurl=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankee_Stadium&h=1086&w=1383&sz=1127&tbnid=had7sUosYl_XZM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=115&zoom=1&usg=__BsOTfoVp-Q4GA29Lxm2j2IlNhoQ=&docid=h2KsJETEHclzSM&sa=X&ei=-D9IUviHIeGNygGxuoHICw&sqi=2&ved=0CCsQ9QEwAA) :)

Both these projects will make nice additions to my web site picture portfolio.

[Scott Shepherd]

I will let you guys and gals ponder how I did the dye-sub graphic in the middle of this one with a 24 by 30 heat press.

That's an easy one Keith! This guy named Keith already told us how he was planned on doing it :)


I plan to remove the top section of the large press and set it in the middle of the Corian sign in order to press the US Flag which is 24" by 19".

[Keith Outten]

Steve,

Yeah, except I am unpredictable and I found another way to get the dye-sub done. Unfortunately I have come down with a cold this afternoon and I am sick as a dog tonight so I didn't take the last pictures of the sign. Assuming I am alive tomorrow morning I will try to get them uploaded.
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