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I don't think that quartz grows big enough for counter tops. In a past life, I ran a quartz crystal plant for quartz crystals used in communications equipment. The raw quartz crystals were in the 1-1
1/2" diameter and 6" length range.Alan Bierbaum
web site:
That's because the chemistry is supposedly available only from DuPont. The rest one can figure out one way or another.
Who's got a seam kit? And you mean that it's not labelled?
Substitute "Jarrah" or "Ipe" for "Corian" in the above and do any of the questions change? Do you know the answers to all of them? Does that mean that we should not try to make things out of Jarrah or Ipe?
I'm sorry, but the fact that one is going to have to do some experimentation to back into the information that duPont _could_ make available at no cost to themselves, does not make solid surface impossible for anybody but those who have been trained by DuPont to work with, it just means that one has to devote the same effort to learning its properties that one does to learning the properties of any unfamiliar material.
And what is the cost of a screwed up countertop bond? It's just something to fix. It's not like the world ends or anything.
Now, if you really cared about helping people instead of protecting us from ourselves then you might provide the benefit of your vast training and experience.
I see. So the standard solvent-cementing procedure that holds up in aquaria, aircraft, spacecraft, and numerous other places where acrylic under stresses far greater than any likely to be encountered in a blasted countertop is used will "have no strength" in Corian? Now why is that?
Meaningless statement. Says you have no experience, no test results, no theory, nothing to suggest that there might be a problem, all that you know is that DuPont told you one way to do a job and so to your way of thinking that is the only possible way to do it.
Not as single crystals. However, as quartz rock, it is available: This was the only link I have found thus far that uses solid stone vs. ground up and reformulated stone.
Most other manufacturers of quartz countertops are like those found on: . One of my favorite quotes from that page: "The color of ordinary stone can vary greatly between pieces. And unattractive veining or color blots can mar the appearance. With Avanza, colors and textures are consistent." Can you imagine subsituting: "The color of ordinary maple can vary greatly between pieces. And unattractive quilting or birds-eye can mar the appearance. With aggreparticleboardmaple, colos and textures are consistent"?
If you read the cited articles; you will notice that they talk of "engineered stone" - this is not a natural product; it is fabricated by some type of glue and stone and quartz particles.
Alan Bierbaum
web site:
IT isn't slabs of solid quartz. From their website:
"Is CAMBRIA made or manufactured in a plant?
The CAMBRIA facility produces natural quartz into slabs. We take pure natural quartz mined out of the earth and combine it with a small amount of pigment and resin to create a slab of uncommon beauty and strength. This is done in our facility in LeSueur, Minnesota, the only one of its kind in the United States. By recombining the quartz in our facility, we are able to recreate the slabs to make them completely non-porous."
Wow! How do you breath with your pants so bunched up J.?
UA100
Damn, this place is getting tiresome.
Regards, Tom.
Thomas J.Watson - Cabinetmaker (ret.) tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)
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Yep, you're right. After more careful inspection, it appears that this is also engineered material. Funny thing, you really have to dig to find that, looking at the first parts of their web pages, you get quotes such as, "CAMBRIA is pure natural Quartz stone mined out of the earth. It has the look and feel of granite with superior performance." That's from the Product Info page, From the how we compare page, in the table it lists both Cambria and Granite as "Natural Stone". Yeah, "natural" as in ground up with epoxy binders -- just like MDF is "natural wood". Kind of misleading.
Thanks for helping set me straight -- looks like granite is still the top of choice if one desires natural stone that is less porous than marble.
Hey - this "may" be a great product (even "better" than granite). I really don't know anything about it other than what the website says.
Alan Bierbaum
web site:
Given a drop of their magic elixir it would be an easy job to determine what their seam kit holds. FTIR Mass Spectroscopy and a few other analytical tools will tell all.
RB
I've been researching counter top materials for some time. Info I have is that ALL the quartz products are made by the same process, on the same patented Italian made machines. Dupont has one in Canada, they charge more for their product. Silestone and Cesar Stone, perhaps others by now, are the same thing. One product brochure, Silestone I believe, stated there is 90% Quartz and 10% binder material in the product, making it harder and less porous than granite. Needs no sealer, will not stain. Can't be scratched with a knife. MAY burn under high enough temp., not sure what that is. This will be my choice when I get around to our kitchen, expecting it to outlast me!
rare. quartzite, though- cryptocrystalline quartz- can be any size, up to and including a whole mountainside. this is prolly the stuff that these counters would be made of. and yes, it would make a dandy counter....
Oh? You developed the process yourself? If not, then how do you know that it is the only one possible?
There is, in engineering, seldom only one way to do a job. However when it is time to cut chips, you have to pick one of the alternatives and put it on the specs and on the drawings and in the work sheets and wherever else it needs to be.
So, there are probably several ways to do whatever you do with your mysterious "r>
Coming from someone who is arguing engineering on the basis of religious faith (There is only One Good, Right, and True DuPont Way and all other paths lead to damnation) that's a laugh.
In other words being asked to question your assumptions makes you uncomfortable?
Yup. And any way you cut it there's unlikely to be anything at all special about it. But figuring it out requires tools that the average woodworker doesn't have. Be nice if someone with access to the right facilities _did_ get hold of a sample and post the analysis somewhere.
Gawd, what does _that_ mean? Anybody know the patent number on the process or device?
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