Last week was the opening of a food hall in one of Sydney's shopping center.
 
We made a "Solid surface curtain" to separate dining areas, made from almost 3500
solid surface beads. The beads are 120mm (5") long and 75mm (3") tapered to 50mm ( 2") at top and bottom.

We cast the beads in silicone moulds, drilled, cut, sanded and polished them.

They are slipped over a 35mm galvanised water pipe, this pipe is fixed into the ground and ceiling.


 

 

That is bead-azling

Johnny  C

I got to ask, "how long did it take".

Pretty cool design. Almost looks retro '7's

Posted By Andy Graves on 25 Oct 2011 07:29 PM
I got to ask, "how long did it take".

Pretty cool design. Almost looks retro '7's

A little more than 4 weeks with three men, plus installation about the same time by some one else.

Posted By Arnold Trenkner on 25 Oct 2011 07:44 PM

Posted By Andy Graves on 25 Oct 2011 07:29 PM
I got to ask, "how long did it take".

Pretty cool design. Almost looks retro '7's

A little more than 4 weeks with three men, plus installation about the same time by some one else.

Holy cow!!

I like working with Solid Surface but that opinion might change if I had to spend 4 weeks sanding beads.

Johnny C

Sanding was not that bad, we only used 40 +  60 grit and 400 wet & dry sandpaper on a lathe, max 1 minute per bead.

Drilling was the hardest part of the job.

Great work as usual Arnold.

I'm glad to see you put that in a food court instead of a pub.

I can see it now, some drunk in a pub trying to run though the "curtains" and being knocked out cold!

Its all about applications, and YOU, Arnold, chose wisely

Great work as usual Arnold.

I'm glad to see you put that in a food court instead of a pub.

I can just imagine it it now, some drunk in a pub trying to run though the "curtains" and being knocked out cold!

As amusing as that is, Its all about Applications, and YOU, Arnold, chose your response to that particular application wisely.

Kudos!

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Your guys are great fabricators.

I just posted this on twitter

Outstanding!!!! and amazing!!

Posted By Jon Olson on 26 Oct 2011 02:22 PM
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Your guys are great fabricators.

Jon,

I agree Arnold is a great fabricator. But if I am not mistaken Arnold is also a manufacturer, who fabricates his own material.

Can you imagine trying to "fabricate" those beads (gluing lots of SS together and machining)?

Arnold cast the beads in a mold, sanded, drilled and strung them on a steel pipe. Easy Peasy when compared to fabricating it from sheet stock!

People like Arnold IMO are in a unique position, as a manufacturer / fabricator. I have the same type of deals set up in China.

It allows one to have more control over the vertical and horizontal of any application. You can adjust manufacturing and fabrication simultaneously to yield the best option for nearly any application. And that translates into sales!

Why didn't you cast the beads with the hole in the center so they would not have to be drilled? Just curious, I really have no idea how to cast solid surface so this question could seem odd to you.

Andy

To drill or not to drill? That is an excellent Shakespeare solid surface question.


Yes you could do that (cast the hole) . Casting a hole is tricky business. For example some people cast sinks and shower pans with drain hole included (cast), while others drill them out.

From looking at Arnolds part, the area of the hole to area of the part ratio is pretty high. The material shrinks in 3 axis (different directions), so the outside of the part shrinks (becomes smaller), but the hole becomes larger when the part shrinks as it cures.

You can calculate the shrinkage rate and account for that, but what is more difficult to control is the cracking at the hole and residual stress left in the part. There are some tricks that help. For example I used to cast SS speaker boxes, and it worked. They had great acoustics BTW!

But For a simple hole, I prefer to drill baby drill!

Maybe others can chime in and tell us why they prefer to cast the hole.

Didn't Arnold say that he made the molds out ofsilicone?  And if that is the case wouldn't any stress in the casting with the hole simply squeeze the silicone and not really add any stress to the casting as it cures?

Just wondering.

Johnny C

Johnny

Ask Arnold how he did it and why? Arnold is a smart guy,  I would have drilled them out because of the reasons I outlined earlier. The stress occurs inside the part, from shrinking in opposite directions.

Be glad it does. Because if it didnt, manufacturers would be casting sheets in L shapes with inside corners and the sink and cooktop cut outs 'cast" into the part.

If they could do that reliably, they wouldn't need the services of you fine and esteemed craftsmen! Think about it.   

Couldn't you use a smaller hole and still drill but you would not have to drill out so much material? Again, just curious.

Posted By Lenny E on 28 Oct 2011 11:36 PM
Johnny

Ask Arnold how he did it and why? Arnold is a smart guy,  I would have drilled them out because of the reasons I outlined earlier. The stress occurs inside the part, from shrinking in opposite directions.

Be glad it does. Because if it didnt, manufacturers would be casting sheets in L shapes with inside corners and the sink and cooktop cut outs 'cast" into the part.

If they could do that reliably, they wouldn't need the services of you fine and esteemed craftsmen! Think about it.   

Lenny:

I assume this is why DuPont quit casting sinks into tops years ago?

Joe

Joe,

I didn't know DuPont cast the sinks into tops. It's cast on a continuous line, how the heck could they accomplish that?

Or did they do that with the polyblend product they were getting out of China (after purchasing the assets of Dr. Fred Gong's plant...Montelli for 20 million)?


I have seen people T form (vaccum form) Sinks into Corian sheets (small draw maybe 7-9 inches) and I always had some concerns about that. Is that what you are referring to Joe?

BTW Do they still do that (vaccum form the sinks)?

Thanks Joe, for the  interesting post!

Hah, ya had me, for a moment Joe!