Interesting Corian projects

[DickB]

I ran across this post showing some interesting Corian projects. I was not aware that Corian could be "molded".

https://www.inventables.com/projects/corian-vessels

Scroll down for the step-by-step.

[CarverJerry]

I sorta molded a piece of corrian, carved a litho of a guy and his deer that he killed, then heated it up in the oven at 250° for 15 mins then used a home depot bucket and formed it around creating an arc to the litho. HOT, use good welding gloves.

[rmock]

Really nice, thanks for sharing. I really like the look of this with the curve and the well finished base. Great job.

[dbemus]

Very clever creation, imaginative!!!

[mikemi]

Great job Jerry, on both the carving and the base.

Mike

[200k]

Yes, Corian brand solid surface material can be thermoformed. Other brands may not. I found this out the hard way when I tried to use my molds on a lithopane made from Meganite. The nice curve that was easily formed with a carved Corian blank split and cracked along thin areas of the carved Meganite. Unfortunately I had bought about $800 of Meganite in full size sheets because it was cheaper by about $100 in the amount I purchased. It carves just fine and as long as I don't try to thermoform it, it remains identical to Corian in performance, color, and carvability.

Attached is a thermoformed lithopane of my Bichon as a puppy when he fell asleep aside a little teddy bear chew toy. WARNING! This image may be nauseatingly cute for some. View at your own risk!

[zan29]

Very nice Jerry and how were you able to mold it??

[fwharris]

Very nice Jerry and how were you able to mold it??

then heated it up in the oven at 250° for 15 mins then used a home depot bucket and formed it around creating an arc to the litho. HOT, use good welding gloves.

[CarverJerry]

The corrian was already carved into a litho....After heating it up I just formed it around the bucket with my hands using a pair of welding gloves since it was HOT. The bucket was at room temp so it cooled the corrian down fast, so I just kept holding it to the bucket (bottom or small end until it was stiff but still warm. I measured the bottom of the bucket to get the dia size then in designer I made an arc to a length of that dia and cut the base, had to sand it a bit for a good fit. Hope that helps.