drilling corian

[woodhacker]

Hi all, after seeing Jim from West Yorkshires corian pen I thought I'd have a go so sent for some. Tried drilling it on bench drill with a brad point, unable to obtain slow enough speed. Took my time but it melted and jammed up anyway. Next tried it on the lathe. Chuck has four jaws unfortunately blanks are not square, kept bursting through sidewall and by the way its was stinking. Try something else ...well a wee trip over to Axminster to see about a set of blank jaws...don't stock them. But would they have fitted my chuck a APTC Axminster Toolmex on a Myford Mystro (does anyone know) Any tips for a frustrated attempting to be a pen turner newby

 

[Barry]

Hi peter what size are you drilling out

 

[rayf6604]

I would say the Sorby pen jaws but they only fit the Patriot Chuck and the nova/record chucks. I drill corian at 1000rpm no trouble and use a sharp drill, but only go in a few millimetres before withdrawing to clear swarf then continue. With corian being only 12mm thick usually, it's crucial to have the blank held squarely to the drill. Try pin jaws if you can get them for your chuck.

 

[Dalboy]

Not having pen jaws I drill all my blanks on the drill press at the lowest speed possible make sure the bit is sharp and I take a little time to make sure the blank is nice and square to the bit as before drill into the blank a short distance and remove any swarf as a build up will cause it to get hot if the bit starts to get hot let it cool before carrying on it may take a little time but worth it.

 

[Terry Q]

Sharp drill bit, slow feed rate, clear the chips FREQUENTLY, back up the bottom of the blank with wood and make sure the blank is firmly seated on the wood. Did I say clear the chips FREQUENTLY?

 

[Terry]

Try drilling with a pilot drill first. A 5mm or 6mm drill would be ideal and when you use your final drill size you will find there is less swarf build up resulting in a cooler piece of corian !!!

 

[bellringer]

I use the highest speed I can obtain on my drill press about 3000 rpm sharp drill fast ish feed till the last minute

And when I say sharp I mean sharp if you buy cheap drill they will need sharpening most of my drill are hss with colbalt in

 

[Jim]

I can't add more than what the guys have already added, other than i use a Colt drill bit when drilling Corian, well 90% of the time i do ..

 

[woodhacker]

Hi peter what size are you drilling out

7mm for slimline pencil.

 

[woodhacker]

thanks guys will give it a shot later this week,

 

[ni9eofse7en]

A lot of good advice above. I have used a standard HSS drill bit and been fine with it. I drill to a count of about 5/6 in my head and then withdraw to clear the swarf with a paint brush, saves the fingers. So as above clear the swarf frequently. If it builds up on the drill bit or too much goes back in the hole it will likely clog the hole, build up heat, expand and melt the Corian causing the drill to jam or break open the Corian.

 

[Vic Perrin]

Plenty of sound advice for you there. Just persever and you will get there

 

[Lons]

Hi Peter

If you've managed to melt Corian your drill must be pretty blunt and/or you're not clearing the chips Peter. Not a lot of room for error if drilling a 7mm hole in a 12mm square of material.

I've drilled quite a few now without problems, all done so far with a 4 jaw chuck on the lathe at slow speed. It can be fiddly setting it up in the 4 jaw when not square so what I do is fit in hand tight and bring up the tailstock to centre it the tighten the chuck.
I bought a set of pen jaws for my Record G3 chuck last week but haven't tried them yet but if you can't get them for your chuck you can make some. There's a guy from the USA with details on his website makes them with aluminium angle. The link is on the forum somewhere.

Whereabouts are you Peter? I'm near Morpeth, maybe we could meet up and I can show you how I do it.

 

[AllenN]

Peter, I have an 80 mm Axminster chuck and use the normal A type jaws with the blank off set 90 degrees so that the corner lies in between the jaws which clamp onto the middle of each side. I use a small try square to line everything up and then drill very slowly with a sharp drill bit. Corian drills slowly and as others have said you need to clear the swarf frequently in my experience.
All that said I do rather wish Axminster made some pen jaws, I am sure it would make lining things up easier.

 

[wm460]

Drill a bit the clear the hole and squirt a bit of water in it, drill a bit more and so on.

 

[Penpal]

I have never altered the drill press highish speed for twenty years I use drill point drills have drilled without failure hundreds of hundreds of Corian but I do drill carefully clearing the chips right from the start. I use the diamond cut jaws in the drilling vice.

Peter.

 

[Woody]

I noticed you are using a brad point bit these are not suitable for corian they are for wood only you need just ordinary hss drill bits on the lathe or on the pillar drill no need for special expensive equipment just make sure your blank is square on to the drill bit good luck

 

[Penpal]

I 2nd Woody.

Peter.