Need Help with Corian Resurfacing

[butzla]

My daughter was doing a craft project on our corian kitchen island and spilled some glue on the surface which became hard and ugly.  I decided to break out the RO150 and sand it down. 

Here was my schedule:

Titan 180 on ROTEX
Titan 240 on ROTEX
Brilliant 320 on RO
Vlies 800g on RO

Here's the resulting finish....yichhhh:

The counter top is 3 x 5'.  I changed the paper after a complete pass over entire surface.  I noticed the swirls early on but each succesive grit also created more yet finer swirls.  Should I have cleaned first?  Should I have changed the paper more frequently?  What did I do wrong?!

 

[peter halle]

I am not a solid surface guy, but I will offer three comments:

1.  If the swirls are getting finer - then the sanding is working.
2.  You had a big jump in grits from brilliant 320 to Vlies 800.  
3.  Take time to contact Festool via phone tomorrow.  They have application specialists that can assist you, and Steve Bace - the trainer in Henderson - has a background in training solid surface techniques.

Peter

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

Jim, like Peter said, one of our trainers is a solid surface guru. Since we are all traveling to Providence, RI for the JLC tradeshow this week, it may be best if you shoot me an email with your contact details and I'll ask Steve to give you a call. Just let me know what would be a good time to reach you.

Thanks,
Shane

 

[Chris Hughes]

How did you sand, direction, rate of feed?  You didn't hurt anything from the looks of it though you will probably have to go back and start with a lower grit again.

Depending on previous scratches, you might go back to 100, which is what we would start with on a new fabrication.  Method is everything so be consistent.  Usually I use a ro125 so you are going to have to figure speed of your pass differently, but I was taught originally to move the sander at about an inch a second.  Move left to right through the field with about a one third overlap then from front to back with the same overlap.  One thing I took away from the End Users Solid Surface class was to make a third pass per grit in an eight to ten inch clockwise circular pattern to diffuse any possible pattern left by the grid work pattern of the previous passes.

My schedule is 100, 220, 400, 600 then I go to polish.  That is not Steve Bace's schedule but I sand a little differently and defer to his expertise.  My way is very fast and uses less steps though [tongue], just sayin'. 

 

[butzla]

I'd say I sand about an inch per second too.  I use a light touch, just enough downward pressure to keep the tail of the sander from dropping down on the counter.  I will add I wiped down with a wet rag in between grits then dried with paper towels.  Thanks for the tips guys, Shane I sent you an email with my contact info.  Who wouldda knew it would be this hard?

 

[cwhitfield]

For the best finish on solid surface we use 150, 220. 320 and 500 pad. Four passes with each grit changing direction in a crosshatch pattern. Using the extractor with the rotex.

 

[butzla]

Just a followup on my corian woes.   Shane was kind enough to put me in touch with FestoolUSA's corian expert, Steve Bace.  Steve gave me some great tips that I'll post so others may benefit....and I can come back in a few years to use for a reference next time I do this.

Using my RO150 in random orbit....no rotex.  Rotex is way too aggressive.   I used the same schedule:

180 TITAN
240 TITAN
320 Brilliant (I had no Titan)
800 Vlies

1. Working in a 2.5' wide section, I start going side to side, overlapping pad by 1/2.  I change paper when I moved down to new section.
2. next go up and down using same overlap
3. then finish each grit with a circular pattern in a clockwise fashion only.  counter clockwise is against the rotation and way too aggressive.

SPEED:  It took me a while but in the end I think I got the speed right.  I started very slow maybe an inch per second as Chris mentioned.  But I found if I go just slower than the rotation of the pad worked best....maybe 2 inches per second.  Any slower I was burnishing the surface for me.  Pad speed was set to "6".  

DOWNWARD PRESSURE:  as light as possible.  I let the sander do the work and would hold the tail end of the RO150 sander just enough to keep it from falling over.  In fact, when I switched to 320 grit, I switched sanders to my ETS150 (3).  Way easier to control.  I think I will use this sander exclusively next time.  

In between grits, I use a damp cloth to wipe off dust then dry with some fresh paper towels.

Steve also gave me a great product tip.  Protect All Shine Plus.  It pulls a lot of the dust out of the fine scratch patterns and gives it a "car-wax" like finish.

So here's the resulting finish.  Not perfect but 1000% better than what I had before.  Thanks to all who reached out especially Shane and Steve!

 

[Ken Nagrod]

Jim, I guess you'll be investing in a gun safe for all glue supplies and some plywood or mdf on a couple of sawhorses for the next project?  [big grin]

 

[butzla]

LOL! Good tip, Ken.  Glue aside, it was due for a resurfacing anyhoo.  The island gets a lot of use.

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

Gorgeous results, Jim. I'm glad Steve and others were able to walk you through the process to get it fixed.  [thumbs up]