Fabrication & Installation

One of the most important advantages of Solid Surface is ease of fabrication and installation. Unlike natural stone, marble and granite, Solid Surface can be cut, routed, drilled and sculpted like wood using traditional carpentry tools. Skilled carpenters can become familiar with the material after only short-time guidance. Being lighter in weight than natural materials, Solid Surface is very favourable for installation.

Tools
The standard set of tools for fabrication includes: Carbide blades Router and Circular Saw, Jigsaw, Belt or Pad Sander, Random Orbital Sander and Grinder.

Router	Circular Saw	Jigsaw	Belt Sander
Pad Sander                              Random Orbital Sander                              Grinder

Cutting & Drilling
For straight-line cutting of Solid Surface sheets it is recommended to use a table saw. The sheets should be cut face up and front edge first. Jigsaws should be used to rough cut oversize and the final cut carry out with a router. When use a jigsaw always cut from the front edge first with the top face down on a protective surface to prevent scratching of the surface. To make cutouts for sinks, hobs or any other appliance, drill through the surface and then cut away from the hole with a router. Router also should be used for forming of edges’ shape and cutting any sidelines; it is only required to change various knives.

Joining
For bonding of Solid Surface sheets in any horizontal or vertical installation (e.g. worktops and wall panels) can be used Silicone or Epoxy AB adhesive. When you join together two pieces of the material, the use of colour-matched Solid Surface Adhesives will make the seams imperceptible after further finish. The technique of seamless joining is quite simple. To prepare two parts for joining, sand lightly the edges that you want to join together and clean them with denatured alcohol. Apply the Solid Surface Adhesive to the joint and squeeze out extra glue. Secure the joint and leave it to dry. It normally takes 30 – 40 minutes the adhesive to be totally dry. After that it only remains to sand the seam to make it inconspicuous.

Cutting	Bonding
Edging	Polishing

Sanding & Polishing
Remove the excess adhesive with a random orbital sander using 150-grit (100 micron) sandpaper on disk. Once the glue line disappears, sand the surface with 240-grit (60 micron) disk in small circular motions. When sanding, make sure to sand in the same direction every time you change the disk. Always wipe dust off the surface after each disk change.

Further sanding and polishing process will depend on required finish of the surface.

• Matt finish: After sanding with 240-grit sandpaper, wipe the surface and sand it with Maroon 7447 Scotch-Brite® pad. For best result, add a small amount of soapy water with Scotch-Brite® pad.
  The matt finish is easy maintained and is usually the most suitable for high use areas.
• Satin finish: Sand the surface with 400-grit (30 micron) sandpaper. Then clean the area and repeat sanding with Grey 7448 Scotch-Brite® pad and soapy water.
• High-gloss finish: To achieve a high-gloss finish, after procedure above make the polish using 3M Finesse-it™ polishing compound.

Solid Surface "How to" Videos