In mid February 2011 I was one of the fortunate participants in the first-ever Festool End User Solid Surface class in Henderson. Of course Steve "Mister Solid Surface" Bace was our instructor. Brian "The Sedge" Sedgeley also participated, as a combination trainee and instructor. Besides them our class included the sales manager for a leading brand of solid surface adhesive.
I am in the custom cabinet business and I own a lot of large modern CNC machines. Consequently several of the counter top contractors I know wanted me to sub-contract CNC machining of certain solid surface jobs.
Having discussed this informally with Steve Bace during previous classes and meetings, I had doubts about the practicality of fabricating both wood and solid surface in the same shop. So one of my goals taking the class was to find out if I needed to worry. My secondary goal was to improve my understanding of solid surface fabrication so as to work move effectively with counter top contractors.
Less than an hour into simply breaking down a sheet of solid surface material I concluded I did not want to spend a lot of time around those chips. As Steve puts it so well, "They cling to everything like an irate bill collector!"
Sometimes the best educational experience is one pointing us away from a particular line of business. I learned a lot about the tips and tricks to effectively fabricate solid surface from Steve during this class. What I took away from the class was the absolute thought that I did not want any solid surface dust in my shop, and that even a hint of metal or wood dust interferes with solid surface fabrication. To me the investment in travel, hotel and the class fee was very much in my favor.
I urge everyone even considering a future in solid surface fabrication to participate in these classes.
