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Posts
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John,
Our distributors and manufacturers stay right with us. I have been really surprised with this industry. When I have asked for help from Formica, they have been there from day one to help. As we have grown and have moved on to bigger projects, retailers etc, we have gotten to meet Formica’s top people all the way up to the CEO. We have developed a nice relationship with Avonite.and Wilsonart We have also seen some of their top executives. They have come in for some presentations for some of our larger prospective customers. They have helped us put together power point presentations and have helped us do large events with architects and designers. There are alot of fabricators in our area, but that has never discouraged me to go after anyting out there. We have taken on some of the largest accounts in this area and created relationships with major retailers. All with the help of our distributor and the manufacturers. If you ask for help, I feel they will come. They have with us.
Mory
Building on what Mory said. “The Fabricator Network” was built for the main reason to build relationships between manufacturers, vendors and fabricators. The industry has been fragmented for too long. Reach out to your local ditributor and support their products. Of course all distributors are not equal, but with a little push you can get great service.
Rather than forcing a fabricator and their people to go somewhere to be certified in Polyester I attempt to take a different route first. If they are good at what they do and are open to some advice/suggestions on how to fabricate the Studio Collection (Polyester), it’s generally an easy transition. I like to send them a 16×16 w/ a adhesive kit (at no charge) and sit down w/them to discuss differences and do’s and dont’s. The biggest differences are…
handling the material differently – lighter and easier to fracture
scuffing all bonding surfaces w/a hardwood sand block – poly needs a rough surface in order for the “mechanical” bond to work well.
no dull bits/blades – don’t have to be out of the box sharp
multiple passes to avoid chatter marks
min. 1 1/2″ glue surface on front edge – no 1/2 vertical drops for build up (bad idea on any product)
1″ x 4″ support along front/middle back and or vertical every 12-16 inches (adhered w/silicone – no liquid nails) – make sure to keep 1/8 – 1/16 gap between front build up and substrate.
If you take your time and do it right, no problems.
By the way, we offer our fabricators as little as a half sheet in every color. No 12 sheet skid rquirement although you may be getting some sort of volume discount for the skid purchases?
woodmanstan wrote
First, welcome to the group. i’m new here too. and we just switched over to using primarily Avonite brand solid surfacing. i havent had the chance to play around with the polyester line yet but i find the acrylic based to be very consistent and great to work with. We are only ably to buy in skids of 12 sheets. I dont know if it’s our distributer or what the deal is. I’m not the purchasing dept. but i really like their adhesive and how all the seams turn out so easily.
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