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Integra Adhesive – Zero Sag Seaming Adhesive

Integra Adhesive Surface Bonder

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Surface Bonder Zero was launched earlier this year and Quartz fabricators love it!

Zero Sag Adhesive allows for fast, clean assembly of countertops. Whether mitering, laminating or installing in the field, Surface Bonder Zero makes it simple. Even vertical wall panels can be joined together with adhesive that stays in place.

If you haven’t tried it yet, you should! We make it easy! Ask us about our Welcome Program to receive 10 cartridges of the color of your choice and a dispenser at a killer price!

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135 Degree Inside Cove Corner on Corian Solid Surface

Cove inside corners are often a breeze with the correct tooling and a bit of experience. But for most fabricators, we don’t typically get the oddball corners that can stump any of us.

I have created a sample of a 135 degree inside, cove corner using solid surface material. Obviously this is not the only solution so if you have any ideas or input, please add your feedback to the comment section below.

Glue the cove build up stips in place as usual. Then use the countertop to set up and glue your backsplash pieces together. I used a piece of cellophane tape between the top of the cove strip and the splash so that it wouldn’t stick. The cove insert piece at the corner needed to be 7/8″ x 2-1/8″ set into a 1/8″ dado.

Set up a router with a 3/4″ core box bit. On the base, I have hot melted a guide block that will guage off of the back edge of the counter. It should just leave a flat surface wide enough to glue your verticle splash onto. I have marked the inside limit of the cove cut. Run the router into the corner from both sides, stopping at the lines. Start from about 8 or 9 inches from the corner. This should be far enough away that your Betterly router can get at the rest.

Go into the corner right up to the lines. This should leave a nice smooth corner.

Once you get to this point, I would sand the cove in the area that you can’t get to with your sander. Be careful not to sand the corner off of the cove strip. A scraper makes this fairly easy.

Make a simple jig that you can run a top bearing, flush-trim bit against. I didn’t get it lined up quite right and it left me with a bit of a shoulder.

After using the top bearing bit, turn your backsplash assembly over and use a bottom bearing flush trim bit to finish out the corner. The length of your bits will be the limit of how tall you can make the splash. This splash was 4″ including the cove.

After flush trimming, I used a scraper and hand sanding to finish sand the corner. Be careful not to sand too much at the edges or it will change how it fits on the countertop.

Before gluing the splash to the countertop I applied cellophane tape right up to the edges of the splash and the cove. This allowed me to wipe out most of the squeeze-out. When the glue had cured, I removed the tape leaving just a slight glue line to scrape and sand away.

I wouldn’t want to do 20 tops with 2 corners each. You would probably develop tendonitis in your hands. I would estimate that doing this one example took between 45 to 60 minutes (not counting glue curing time).

All Finished.

About the Author: John Christensen is a long-time solid surface fabricator, repair specialist and owner of Solid Surface Technologies in Springfield, Oregon.

PHOTO COURTESY: JOHN CHRISTENSEN of SOLID SURFACE TECHNOLOGIES

No-Drip Outside Corner Fabrication Technique

Learn the steps to create a nice, contoured outside corner on a solid surface countertop. Many times the outside corner is just mitered and routed with a 3/8″ radius. However, some customers want a larger radius.

This video shows how I created a larger outside radius using a square block on the corner with the no-drip molding strips bumping up to them.

Watch the video below to get a better understanding of the process.

Habit Burger Features Lotte Staron and Radianz

Staron® solid surface and Radianz®  quartz are installed in areas where food routinely comes into contact due to its non-porous and durable qualities that help resist any stubborn stains and minor scratches. Staron® Tempest Horizon and Radianz® Ural Gray are prominently featured at Habit Burger locations for the surfaces of their furnishing solutions.

The contemporary design is complemented by the simplicity of Staron® and Radianz®  throughout the restaurant’s dining and cashier areas. Available in a wide range of colors, Staron® and Radianz® help create a signature look that can be extended to other franchise locations.

Achieve the best of style and quality with Staron® solid surface and Radianz® quartz brought to you by LOTTE Advanced Materials USA

For more information – CLICK HERE

How to Use a Styrofoam Cutter on Solid Surface Shower Pan

I made a wide wire cutter to cut styrofoam that is used on the bottom of solid surface shower pans.

Corian, Staron, HI-MACS, Livingstone and Stonia shower pans are thermoformed on the bottom. The gap is filled with foam to create a solid floor that lays flat on the sub floor.

Lotte Radianz – New Colors 2019

With colors ranging from rustic concrete finish to white aesthetics, Radianz® Quartz is pleased to announce the addition of new and exciting color options to our Cirrus Collection for 2019!

A premium quartz surface for residential and commercial spaces— Radianz®
is produced using Breton® technology, the hallmark of quartz manufacturing, and provides the perfect surface for both residential and commercial applications.

Durable, modern, essential – find the balance between personal style and practicality with these new colors that provide the perfect palette for a modern, interior space.

Click on the colors below to take a closer look.

PHOTO COURTESY: LOTTE SURFACES

Integra Adhesives launches Surface Bonder ZERO

Recognized for their high quality, pre-colored cartridge based adhesives—that offer an accurate color match when laminating, mitering and seaming quartz, natural stone and other surfaces—Integra Adhesives is now launching Surface Bonder ZERO, a new adhesive with zero sag for Quartz and Natural Stone.

Integra Adhesive TubeSurface Bonder ZERO works extremely well when mitering or for vertical application, as the adhesive stays in place after the adhesive bead is applied. This allowed for a clean, no-mess, no-waste application. Moreover, Surface Bonder Zero offers great bonding strength on Quartz and Natural Stone. Offered in multiple colors, including a wide selection of true whites, Surface Bonder ZERO is sold in a 250ml 10:1 cartridge. It is the newest addition to Integra’s line of pre-colored adhesives.

“Countertop surface options and applications used to be limited. Not anymore”, says Integra. “From Natural to Compact to Ultra-Compact, glossy to textured to mat, whites to extra-whites, the possibilities are now endless. Added to our world-renowned Surface Bonder Xi and our ultra-versatile indoor-outdoor Surface Bonder ULTRA, the new Surface Bonder ZERO completes a truly unique product offering
to countertop fabricators”.

Color charts can be downloaded from the company’s website or app.

Visit Integra Adhesives at Surface Bonder Zero for more details.

Samsung Staron Table Fabrication – Time Lapse

Watch the entire fabrication process through this time lapse video. This unique table showcases complete CAD and CNC work, a solid surface inlay of the Samsung logo, full bullnose and finishing.

Integra Adhesives Announces Price Drop

Integra Adhesives USA Inc. is proud to announce a major investment at its manufacturing facility, adding 40% production space and drastically increasing its production capacity. With the US economy on a growth curve and its product becoming the adhesive of choice for an ever-increasing number of Solid Surface, Quartz and Natural Stone fabricators, Integra is now more than ever in a position to meet the North American demand and be extremely price competitive.

“The cartridge based adhesive market has become very crowded over recent years, some of the competition coming from Asia, some of it from low-cost web base distributors“, says Integra. “To remain competitive while maintaining very high-quality standards, Integra has become the only fully integrated manufacturer, with its own packaging, mixing and dispensing system. Moreover, we made sure to remain at the forefront of the technology by boosting our R&D department with Chemistry engineers and PHDs. New investments in automation now insure that we minimize the labor component of our cost of goods, increasing our competitiveness“.

This announcement comes with very good news for US fabricators. As of March 10, 2014, Integra is reducing fabricator pricing on its most popular colors sold in 250ml cartridges. “As we are now producing these colors in larger batches, we are in a position to pass on the savings to fabricators,” says Integra. “This new pricing affects over 30 different colors that match the majority of commonly used surfaces. Fabricators are now not only guaranteed high quality and fresh products for extended shelf life from Integra, they get the best of both worlds: extraordinary savings on our most popular colors and almost 300 other colors to choose from, sold at a very competitive price, for perfect matches on infinite surfaces.”

More details on this announcement can be obtained by contacting Integra adhesives at 1-888-862-6665.
www.integra-adhesives.com

Custom Solid Surface Sink Fabrication

Last week I worked with a lady that wanted a nontraditional vanity sink. Using her ideas I provided her with a concept of what I thought she wanted. Once she approved I began building.

Pencil sketch for approval.

Detail drawing for confirming measurements.

Form for thermoforming the bottom of the basin.

Material clamped in form

After the bottom cooled I routed the rabbet for the cove build up strip.

This shows better the slope of the bottom and the rabbet. The bottom is slightly over sized and will be trimmed after the sides are attached.

Cove build-ups are glued into rabbets in the side pieces and then pre coved. The front and back of the basin are rabbeted to accept the pre-assembled and coved end panel. Here they are set up for dry fitting.

I used a bridge router set up to trip the top of the sink to a flat plane.

Tile backsplash with a full-width mirror will be installed by the contractor.

The really weird thing was that the contractor said that the inspector was going to insist on an overflow. I told him that this was a custom sink and that he should make a case for not having an overflow since most vessel sinks are not designed with one. Dupont now offers a line of their vanity sinks without overflows. Kitchen sinks seldom (almost never) have an overflow. All that combined with the fact that this sink holds so much water that the chance of it ever being filled up is slim to none.

It has been a week and I have not gotten a call back yet.

Johnny C

For more information about Johnny’s Company, please visit – www.facebook.com/SolidSurfaceTechnologies