[Andy Graves]

Hey All,

I was curious which direction you ran the pattern on Corian Private Collection in a tub surround.

The panels are too big to get in the bathroom in one piece. Vertical seams suck in the field. We were going to do a horizontal seam but was curious if you all do the same.

Thanks in advance,

Andy

[John Christensen]

Andy,

I would run the pattern vertical.

1.  Build your large panels as one piece in the shop.  Fabricate them maybe 1/2″ too tall. 

2.  Cut the panel horizontally with a circular saw (plunge saw works great).

3.  Separate the two halves by 7/16″ and secure to each other from the underside.  Parallign clamps would work great for this.  Lacking a set of paralligns, I clamp a piece of SS that is about 3″ x 20″ underneath the panel at both ends of the cut.

4.  Align a straight edge so that a 1/2″ bit will run centered in the 7/16″ gap.  Pull the router through the cut.  (I actually don’t use a straight edge, I just pull the router through free hand, trust me it works).  Now you have a mirror cut seam. 

Quite likely you can arrange the layout of this cut to avoid patterns that run at dramatic angles.  In other words try to select a seam path where the pattern on both sides of a 1/4″ path look very similar.  When the cut is complete you have removed about 1/4″ of material and the pattern from both sides of the cut will match very close and the seam will be inconspicupous if not indetectable.  This is how I make site seams on Private Collection tops that are too large to install in one piece.

Johnny C

[Andy Graves]

You haven’t had an issue when cutting the panel in half horizontally? I would think you would see a seam both vertically and horizontally. From what you describe the seam horizontally is barely noticeable.

I trust your judgement and will try running the pattern vertically. I think it will look better anyway.

Thanks for the help,

Andy

[John Christensen]

If you plan your seam path in an area where the paterning is subtle or at least not changing direction or density drastically, you should be fine.

Good luck.  Let us see how it turns out.

Johnny C

[Andy Graves]

Here is one we did where the pattern ran horizontal. We really liked the look and the customer loved it.

We noticed in the Corian brochure, they have vertical and horizontal installations. Interesting because you could justify either way depending on the size of the panels.

[Gene McDonald]

Wow..that looks nice…I hate the shizzle outta Corian…guess they aren’t as boring as they useta be..just wish they didnt act like they are too big too fail..i might like playing with borian..Andy..you guys make Corian look good

[David Gerard]

that does look nice. We did some showers out of LG Marmo and we fabbed it vertical. I think I posted the pic way back but cant find it.
Now that I see it like that I like it both ways.
We had to add to the length since we cut the sheets in half to save materials. We ran the add on as a top border all around and inlay-ed a complimentary 1/4 in. stripe at the joint.

[John Christensen]

That looks nice, Andy!  I still prefer vertical, but the horizontal layout looks better than I thought that it would.

Sometimes with private collection it can be a dhallenge to get good yield out of the sheets.  It can deffinately be a contributing factor when laying out.

Johnny C

[Andy Graves]

I never gave it much thought until this last one where they recommended the horizontal pattern. Vertical in a shower is typically what we do but with the back wall being long, I guess it worked out.

Everyone seems to like it. I would be willing to guess that if you never saw the difference it would be great either way.

Thanks for the compliments and advice.

Andy

[Ross]

Really depends on the layout of material but we do more horizontal. We line up the veining so the walls run into each other.

[Andy Graves]

That pattern looks nice, especially on the yellow one.

I think I will stick with the horizontal installation. Doing a horizontal seam is much easier than doing the vertical.

[John Christensen]

Nice Work, Ross and Andy!!

I think that I will do more horizontal layout.  Material yield may be better too.  It all depends on the size of the panels.

Johnny C

[Andy Graves]

Here is a video I just finished. It shows how to seam consecutive sheets of material together to create an invisible seam.

This process can really save a lot of material without wasting the cutoffs.

Most important part is to get consecutive sheets and layout and mark before fabrication begins.

Quick note, let me know what you think of the video. I added narration but not sure I am 100% happy with it. Can’t stand to listen to my own voice so maybe that is the issue.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIUxht3Fgew

[Steve , NY]

Andy, I think your voice sounds fine.  Nice video, I had to laugh when you said “preferred method” while hanging on to your belt sander.

[John Christensen]

Nice Video Andy..

I was actually surprised that the ends of the sheets matched up so nicely.

Johnny C

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