It is much easier to drill the hole and more accurate then to cast it in.

Firstly the time factor, we used only 12 moulds for the whole job, I had in mind to use 24 (typical to cast 8, prepare 8 and release 8, that means you do not have to wait in between castings).

But because I used split moulds I could release the castings very quickly and that would not be possible with the cast.
We started with a 22 mm hole, but the pipe for the installation was not strong enough, so we had to go to 32mm pipe.
To drill a 35mm hole in each beat takes a little more than 2 minutes and a lot of drill bits. To speed this process we heated the beads to about 80C and the drilling came down to about 20 seconds, we did get some shrinkage but we allowed for this by drilling a bigger hole.

We made about 200 every day.

As to the L and U shape counter top, I remember doing some in my earlier days but it is too much hassle. It is not so much the casting but the sanding is the problem.

Hi Arnold,

Thanks ! I would of drilled them too! Those silicone molds are great if your making limited quanitities (hundreds instead of tens of thousands). We used those  to make speaker boxes back in the day. Silicone molds are affordable and easy to make. 

BTW I'm a big fan of your work. Thanks for posting, I always enjoy looking at your creations!

25 years ago or more, I remember working with Coiran Dawn Beige sheets that were 3/4" thick and had the sinks cast into them.

Soon after that they went to seperate sinks and you could install them anywhere on the sheet.

Johnny C

Thanks Johnny C ! That one had me going! I remember the 19 mm thick material, but I never seen one with a sink cast in.

I learn something everyday on this site!

Posted By Lenny E on 31 Oct 2011 05:35 PM
Thanks Johnny C ! That one had me going! I remember the 19 mm thick material, but I never seen one with a sink cast in.

I learn something everyday on this site!

We have seen old Corian with cast kitchen and bath sinks, I even saw a cast Corian bath tub in a show room many years ago.

Has anyone ever noticed that really old Corian is alot harder ???

We have refinished some REALLY OLD Corian and it take MUCH longer to sand out the scratches.

.

Karl,

That interesting. Do you have a barcol hardness tester (probrably not)? If you do happen to have one, could you do me a favor and take some readings (old vs new) and post them?

I am going to chime in here.

First of all...Great job oh the curtain wall!!!

About 20 years ago or more Corian did a major reformulation.  This was because they wanted to do 1/2" as the standard.  Their first attempt was too hard and strong.  They could not smash their sinks with a sledge hammer.  They make anything unusable that they do not ship.  So they backed off on the component that caused that.

Since the polymers in Corian are always re arranging themselves with temperature changes, Corian could be getting harder with time.  Just a thought.

Posted By Ken Dolph on 01 Nov 2011 07:07 AM 
Corian could be getting harder with time. 

Were I to have this problem...

Posted By Lenny E on 01 Nov 2011 05:10 AM
Karl,

That interesting. Do you have a barcol hardness tester (probrably not)? If you do happen to have one, could you do me a favor and take some readings (old vs new) and post them?

LOL I used to have one from my Cast Poly days, but not any more, it was kinds of fun to pay around with tho.

Sorry

Posted By Ken Dolph on 01 Nov 2011 07:07 AM
I am going to chime in here.

First of all...Great job oh the curtain wall!!!

About 20 years ago or more Corian did a major reformulation.  This was because they wanted to do 1/2" as the standard.  Their first attempt was too hard and strong.  They could not smash their sinks with a sledge hammer.  They make anything unusable that they do not ship.  So they backed off on the component that caused that.

Since the polymers in Corian are always re arranging themselves with temperature changes, Corian could be getting harder with time.  Just a thought.

I've always thought that just from refinished some of the really old 3/4 material it was so much harded to sand out and cut.

But who knows for sure?
.

"Were I to have this problem..."

Yeap. Too true.

Tom,

Did they cut back on the multifunctional acrylates , or did they reduce the coupling agents, or was it a change in promoter level (S-H) types(reminds me of a bumper sticker I had in College.."My Thiols Dont Stink" Only Tom M gets that joke!)  or Calicium hydroxide levels? WTFK?

Send me an old peice and a new one and I can find out toot sweet! Thats who I am, thats what I do!

Len-san,
In my case, it would be the reduced coupling agents, combined with a predictable breakdown of the strengthening molecules that are inevitable over time.

However, the apparent rise in sulfuric odor from those Thiols you were mentioning sure don't help keep the possible couplings around..