Has anyone found a good supplier for HDPE color core sign material? From what I understand, it works very well for outdoor applications. I am looking to get cut to size, a full sheet is quite expensive and I definitely don’t need that much. Any help, or other ideas, on materials to use for outdoor signage would be greatly appreciated.
Inventables sells it, but your sizes are limited (largest being 12" x 24"). Anything larger and I think you’ll have to go to the manufacturer. I’ve ordered from Inventables a couple of times, and will in the future (if I ever get my machine, lol). Some of the smaller cut sizes were slightly warped, but I managed to work with it. I love this stuff, as I’m really not much of a woodworker.
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Yes I have a ton of their plastic, the prices are good and the selection is awesome. But to Bill’s point the sizes are limited. I did a very cool sign for a local Sushi place I like.
-Alex
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Beautiful work, Alex! I also do a lot of work in vinyl flooring. I found some stuff at Lowe’s that works really well for coasters: nice padded back, nice looking top & dark gray core for great contrast, and it carves really nice. I made 50 of these for our favorite restaurant.
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Very cool Bill, I’m sure they both loved then and appreciated your work.
-Alex
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Hi Bill. Those coasters look cool and give me an idea. Do you recall the name/description not the material you found at Lowe’s?
Eric
Hi Eric, yes, it’s from the Smartcore Pro line at Lowe’s. I first found out about this after snagging a few samples at my local Lowe’s. It’s about $60 for a carton. Not real cheap, but not bad either. I’ve had good success with just about any vinyl flooring product I’ve tried.
This can be easily painted. I usually use either Minwax spray polyurethane or black paint. Colors will work, but for some reason seem to require several coats. I spray the entire surface, then wipe it on a paper towel dampened with charcoal lighter fluid, laying on a smooth, flat surface. Charcoal lighter fluid is about the cheapest general-purpose solvent I’ve found. With some practice, the face will wipe clean, leaving the paint or polyurethane in the carved areas.
These are some coasters I made from 1/4" corian, inlaid with 3mm vinyl flooring material.
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Thanks for the info! And what a cool idea for use of materials. The Corian/SmartCore inlays look great!
I’m thinking all sorts of ideas now😁
Thanks Eric… to clarify, the corian coasters are inlaid with 1/8" thick vinyl flooring, not the SmartCore flooring which is 1/4" thick.
The majority of my work is corian or vinyl flooring. I do some wood in combination with corian, like these radios I made. The 2 materials compliment each other nicely.
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That’s cool stuff! I like how it gives a bakelite look. Well done!
sorry if this is off topic or a newbie question but what bits/speed would you use to cut the corian and vinyl? seems like it would be difficult with a router (but clearly you have pictures and it is possible)
@Machinist Thanks for the reply, I did see material on inventables website, I just did see it in 12X24X .500. I will check again, maybe it was out of stock or something.
These types of materials cut beautifully. I used a DC spindle that had a top RPM of 10k (which I typically cut at). The cutters were mostly 1/8" x 30 or 60 deg., or 1/8" end mill. I run pretty conservatively, around 20-30 IPM.
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