Soapstone
I know that stone gets discussed every so often, but I cant recall if the subject of soap stone has come up before.
It’s softer than many forms of natural stone which should make it easy to machine. It finishes out nicely, and seems to be very consistent in texture and high density.
It’s the stuff that sinks and countertops are often made of in chemistry labs. I know its also had a been very popular recently for kitchen counters. Should not be too hard to find.
-Dave
I know that stone gets discussed every so often, but I cant recall if the subject of soap stone has come up before.
It’s softer than many forms of natural stone which should make it easy to machine. It finishes out nicely, and seems to be very consistent in texture and high density.
It’s the stuff that sinks and countertops are often made of in chemistry labs. I know its also had a been very popular recently for kitchen counters. Should not be too hard to find.
-Dave
Tell DuPont to take a hike....
Well, ya just gotta love the internet and capitalism in general. If there's a demand for something and the big players won't sell to you or they want to price gouge you, some little guy will step up and be happy to do business with you. 😉
I went searching for Corian on eBay and found a company called Cumberland Cultured that makes their own version called Amerinite. It's about $12/sq.ft. for the 1/2" and they are happy to sell to anyone. They also make cultured marble, granite and onyx - basically the same stuff with some inorganic minerals stirred into the resin. It sounds like they'll make up small custom orders in whatever color you want. Caveat: I don't know anything about them except what I see on the web but mixing up colored acrylic resin isn't exactly rocket science once you strip the "Corian mystique" away.
eBay Auction
Cumberland Cultured Home Page
Well, ya just gotta love the internet and capitalism in general. If there's a demand for something and the big players won't sell to you or they want to price gouge you, some little guy will step up and be happy to do business with you. 😉
I went searching for Corian on eBay and found a company called Cumberland Cultured that makes their own version called Amerinite. It's about $12/sq.ft. for the 1/2" and they are happy to sell to anyone. They also make cultured marble, granite and onyx - basically the same stuff with some inorganic minerals stirred into the resin. It sounds like they'll make up small custom orders in whatever color you want. Caveat: I don't know anything about them except what I see on the web but mixing up colored acrylic resin isn't exactly rocket science once you strip the "Corian mystique" away.
eBay Auction
Cumberland Cultured Home Page
Ask for artist blanks.....
Corian (Dupont) will allow the sale of material to artists provided it is not usable for counter top material. This means it must be sold not more than a paticular (???) width. We cannot buy full sheets, which I think are 50" wide. Call it "artist blanks" when asking for it. Another avenue to get your hands on this material is by calling local couter top installers and ask for broken sheets. Dispite being a fairly durable material it does crack easy and even though the installers are factory trained they are not always the most careful bunch. I spoke with a furniture designer once who heated Corian to a specific temp then threw the hot Corian onto a form he built then put the whole thing in a veneer vacuum bag and pressed it while it cooled. He was able to make curved chair seats from it!
Get your wheels spinnin' and build something!
Corian (Dupont) will allow the sale of material to artists provided it is not usable for counter top material. This means it must be sold not more than a paticular (???) width. We cannot buy full sheets, which I think are 50" wide. Call it "artist blanks" when asking for it. Another avenue to get your hands on this material is by calling local couter top installers and ask for broken sheets. Dispite being a fairly durable material it does crack easy and even though the installers are factory trained they are not always the most careful bunch. I spoke with a furniture designer once who heated Corian to a specific temp then threw the hot Corian onto a form he built then put the whole thing in a veneer vacuum bag and pressed it while it cooled. He was able to make curved chair seats from it!
Get your wheels spinnin' and build something!
Have been reading up on Acrylic resins. From what i gather, this stuff is very good to cast & make your own diy mix. The precise mixture is not very critical 2:1 3:1 is ok. It's the cheapest of the "big" three resins. Epoxy 27,50 polyester 25,70 acrylic resin 13,00 €/kg. It's not toxic, it does not crimp and it can be mixed with almost anything: fiberglass, cloth, shreds, marble, sand, etc.
Some examples:
If you make the core out of EPS / Polystyrene foam which has been modelled with a hotwire cutter. You can make whatever you want. (read Horns). Making some fake marble sheets for an enclosre would be doable too.
Am i just to overly enthousiastic here? What am i missing? Sounds a bit to good to be true 😱 or new wonder material? A google diyaudio search brought this thread up... nothing else of interest. Really nobody tried this?
Some examples:
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An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
If you make the core out of EPS / Polystyrene foam which has been modelled with a hotwire cutter. You can make whatever you want. (read Horns). Making some fake marble sheets for an enclosre would be doable too.
Am i just to overly enthousiastic here? What am i missing? Sounds a bit to good to be true 😱 or new wonder material? A google diyaudio search brought this thread up... nothing else of interest. Really nobody tried this?
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I have used resins before but not anything thick.
In looking up prices for 1"or 2" thick plexiglass in black or clear the prices are very expensive
I have 3/4" and 1/2" sheet material and have combined it with aluminum to deaden any vibrations.
A question comes up, if you cast say a 2" thick plinth for a turntable, do you need any kind of sealed vacuum or pressure environment to keep air bubbles from forming?
Regards
David
In looking up prices for 1"or 2" thick plexiglass in black or clear the prices are very expensive
I have 3/4" and 1/2" sheet material and have combined it with aluminum to deaden any vibrations.
A question comes up, if you cast say a 2" thick plinth for a turntable, do you need any kind of sealed vacuum or pressure environment to keep air bubbles from forming?
Regards
David
Acrylic comes as plexiglass (toxic and harder to do diy) and as Acrylic resin. Plexi is expensive, this resin should be half the price of poly or epoxy resin. The casting method of this stuff is close to gypsum, it's like yoghurt what i read when you cast. Or thicker like plaster depending on what you add to it. And it does not shrink...
In Europe it's also known as plasticrete and used a lot for fake marble statues. Sculpture supply store's should have it in the US.
In Europe it's also known as plasticrete and used a lot for fake marble statues. Sculpture supply store's should have it in the US.
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Domenico:
In the USA you can look on craigs list under materials and on ebay where you can also buy the glue.
I made 4 audio racks by gluing 2 pieces of 3/4" Baltic birch together and corian on top for shelves. They came out great using carbide router bits and an orbital sander.
In the USA you can look on craigs list under materials and on ebay where you can also buy the glue.
I made 4 audio racks by gluing 2 pieces of 3/4" Baltic birch together and corian on top for shelves. They came out great using carbide router bits and an orbital sander.
The resin would mean no carbide routers, just pour and let it harden. Diy Corian on the cheap so to speak 🙂
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Here is a picture of my Kans built from corian.
It's incredibly difficult to machine. And I am hoping it takes a helicoil ok for the fixings.
Should hear some sounds this weekend.
Amazed that people still buy Corian for countertops/etc. It's proven as Hideous material imo.
Soft, easily damaged and with the visual appeal of Parafin BBq briquette ignitor blocks of yore.
Plus the garbage costs more than Granite per sq foot.
Melmac is a fair analogy.
Seamless joins being it's Only unique feature.
Which by the way seems glaringly absent on the photos above.
Soft, easily damaged and with the visual appeal of Parafin BBq briquette ignitor blocks of yore.
Plus the garbage costs more than Granite per sq foot.
Melmac is a fair analogy.
Seamless joins being it's Only unique feature.
Which by the way seems glaringly absent on the photos above.
The joins disappear with polishing which for obvious reasons will be the last process. But thanks for your enthusiastic words of support.
It's fibre filled plastic. Where's the difficulty?
Can't imagine why it wouldn't.
Should look quite sharp.
jeff
Jesmonite is a brand of acrylic resin that's well known in the prop making/art world and been around for a long while.
In fact it (or another brand of acrylic resin) was even used for a commercial high-end speaker by none other than Celestion ! The Celestion Kingston:
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
As any manufacturer does, they hid the common name of the commonly available material and created their own, claiming it a revolutionary material. They chose the name "AlphaCrystal" which I guess they could claim described their specific mix ratio of marble aggregate to acrylic resin..
Here's a photo showing it was cast (and also touched up, filled with more Jesmonite when removing the cast didn't quite work).
Very depressing that it was as long ago as 7 years that I wanted to make some speakers out of it but still not got around to it yet! http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/mult...ystal-has-anyone-made-diy-speakers-using.html I got as far as filling up a 35mm film canister to make a cylinder of the stuff with (too much) marble aggregate .
Common practice in the prop making world is to make a structure of either wire mesh or hot-wire cut polystyrene and then a thick coating of Jesmonite so it can take the weight of people etc. I'm sure some technique could be found to use an inner core of honeycomb, like nomex like this wing structure but with thick layers of Jesmonite as each skin.
Here's a piece of art (homeware?) made with coloured layers of Jesmonite around a complex shape inner piece (from http://www.galleryfumi.com/Artists/Study-O-Portable/)
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
I guess there's the technique of shaping the inner part of the mold with polystyrene then adding acetone (?) to dissolve and remove it from a closed shape (or cut it all out slowly with a knife via the driver mounting hole).
A few ideas to throw in the mix - by all means Corian seems a bit restrictive in its use.
Their kustone stands? I've not seen them in the flesh.
It's all very versatile stuff with many aggregates and colours and finishes you can come up with so probably is this or another brand of acrylic resin.
There's a guy who has a website making jesmonite small statues with powered slate added or dye which looks like they are carved from slate.
You can get a thickener too which is used to slap it on as a filler, which also helps suspend heavier stuff into the mix if you experiment, lead shot possibly if one wanted to.
It's all very versatile stuff with many aggregates and colours and finishes you can come up with so probably is this or another brand of acrylic resin.
There's a guy who has a website making jesmonite small statues with powered slate added or dye which looks like they are carved from slate.
You can get a thickener too which is used to slap it on as a filler, which also helps suspend heavier stuff into the mix if you experiment, lead shot possibly if one wanted to.
Anyone save any pictures of theses? They were beautiful.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/64799-clarity-seas-thor-kit-80.html#post1728942
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/64799-clarity-seas-thor-kit-80.html#post1728942
Bare - I wouldn't go so far on the "aesthestics" of Corian (brand name) - or any of the half dozen other major players in the solid surface field (some of Avonite's are gorgeous) - but couldn't agree with you more about the material's suitability for high surface wear areas or for that matter speaker enclosures.
The latest generation of Quartz or even recycled glass and resin materials are eminently superior AFAIC, but of course are not as easy to fabricate as acrylic or polyester based solid surface.
As Jeff noted above, "Corian" class of materials are relatively easy to machine with sharp standard woodworking tools (carbide tipped saws and router bits, etc), can be joined with either custom colour matched adhesives for "virtually" seamless joins (depending on degree of texture of mineral fillers), and polished to as a high a gloss as you want (but it doesn't take much to mar that sheen). It is however not at all well suited to direct use of mechanical fasteners - more so those patterns with high volume of large particulate or even metal flake fillers.
The latest generation of Quartz or even recycled glass and resin materials are eminently superior AFAIC, but of course are not as easy to fabricate as acrylic or polyester based solid surface.
As Jeff noted above, "Corian" class of materials are relatively easy to machine with sharp standard woodworking tools (carbide tipped saws and router bits, etc), can be joined with either custom colour matched adhesives for "virtually" seamless joins (depending on degree of texture of mineral fillers), and polished to as a high a gloss as you want (but it doesn't take much to mar that sheen). It is however not at all well suited to direct use of mechanical fasteners - more so those patterns with high volume of large particulate or even metal flake fillers.
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