corian question

[TAMI WILSON]

Lasered my first corian, with a paper mask, after lasering I blew the letters out with my air compressor then spray painted. The paint is not sticking as the air compressor must not have removed all the corian dust. It seemed to be a bit sticky.

Is there a better way to remove the dust before painting?



Tami

[Bill George]

Just wondering what brand of spray paint? I have tried not to purchase RustOleum as it takes forever to dry and sometimes just won't stick. Krylon is what I use for most steel and wood projects.

[Gary Hair]

I would scrub it with a brush and some soapy water. Last big corian project I had was 8 pieces that were 18" x 18" and hundreds of names. I lasered, scrubbed, and paint filled with acrylic paint. I used a credit card blank to scrape away most of the paint and then after it was dry I wet-sanded it using progressively finer sandpaper until I got to 1200. Much easier than using a paper mask and much faster as well.

[Mike Null]

My method uses a paper mask. I use compressed air to blow out the dust, roll the mask after engraving with a wall paper roller and then spray it. I then use a credit card as a scraper. It can then be polished and there is no need to sand. (the wall paper roller is better than a squeegee to press the paper down.)

9-11 panel.jpgtransfer paper on panel.jpg

[Brian J Rogalny]

Nice work Mike!

[Ross Moshinsky]

I use the router on Corian most of the time because it's just much much faster but here is what I do.

Engrave. Blow out the dust. Wipe with DNA. Blow out the dust. Paint with essentially any rattle can. I use Ace brand a lot but I haven't had any issues with any of the quick drying variety. Then sand starting at 80 grit and going up as high as I want/need. This method works best with light color Corian. The only issue I've found is when you get up to a very fine grit (1000+) the dust will stick to the paint and it's a real pain to get it out. Now I just stop at 220 grit.

Dark Corian, you're much better off using a paint mask because it's a lot of work to get the surface finish right.

[Keith Outten]

Tami,

I rarely use a masking material for Corian. I try to use Ace Hardware paint when I can because it dries fast and doesn't load up my sandpaper near as bad as other brands.

Cleaning Corian dust before painting is usually done with a brush for larger plaques and if I have a large number of plaques or sign blanks to clean I use a pressure washer. For very small detail the pressure washer is about the only way to get into the tiny engraved areas.

http://www.northwindassociates.com/w...orian_sign.gif

[Kev Williams]

Spray paint and sand? We hardly ever engrave anything that CAN be sanded afterwards. And the only time I spray paint is when doing reverse-engraved laminate that doesn't need sanding.

Paint is always put in with a brush and squeegie. To remove the smearing after the paint dries involves a 3x4x1" thick piece of plex with some used cotton sheet wrapped tightly around it and dampened with a little DNA, and used like a sanding block. Just add a little more DNA and move the cloth around a bit as needed. Quickly removes the paint smears and does nothing whatsoever to the surface. The only catch is, the engraving must be a little deeper than 'superficial'.

[Brian J Rogalny]

image.jpgEngraved corian, acrylic paint squeegied on than polished with 4000 grit Festool Platin

[Keith Outten]

Brian,

Nice work. I like the colors and the designs.

[TAMI WILSON]

Keith,

is that just a regular palm sander? what grit are you using?

tami

[Keith Outten]

Tami,

In the animated gif I'm using a Porter Cable 333 random orbital sander with 80 grit paper. Signs for commercial buildings, particularly ADA signs have to have a matte finish and 80 grit paper is perfect for Corian. When i need a glossy finish I use Trizac wet sanding disks from 3M.

The animated gif was made during one of our ADA classes here in my shop as a demonstration how fast you can create a simple sign. It took about ten minutes to CNC machine, paint and sand the plaque. Add another ten minutes for the paint to dry and it was 20 minutes from start to finish.
.

[Darryl Hazen]

Since you used your air compressor, is it possible the air contains oil particles? You might try using canned air to see if the problem is still there. Just a thought.

[TAMI WILSON]

Keith

I read on another post that you can cut 1/4" corian in 2 passes with your 80 watt machine. I just tried 14 passes with my 80 watt machine and it still did not go through. The white stuff you sent me a piece of when I ordered my CD's that was corian was it not?

Tami

[Neal Schlee]

We laser lots of Solid Surface material that we CNC cut to shape then polish. We mask then laser engrave. I like to use a 1.5" FL lense on Solid Surface material. Blow the part off with compressed air after lasering then spray paint with 2-3 coats, let dry then peel mask.

Neal