Have picked up to pieces of limestone countertop from a customer who can’t use ’em. They were part of the remodel – but the counter slab broke on installation and these are what’s left of the original.
The two pieces are 24″x24″, both with radiused, turned down front edges. I want to use ’em as the counter for the MIL’s sewing station in finshed garage. Cutting no problem if needed right? Just use a diamond blade in Mag 77? What about joining? Buy a cheap carbide bit and rout out for bolts like they use for granite? Will carbide router bit work? Use colored epoxy off the shelf for the joint?
And now the clincher. She wants sewing machine to be able to drop in. So I have to cut an opening akin to a small sink. And then support the machine from underneath. This won’t have a cab base – just 2×4 frame w/ ply decking so support isn’t a problem. It’s the cutting and rounding the inside corners for the machine that is the problem. I have a 2 1/4 hp Bosch router, Skil Mag77, and a 4 1/2″ Bosch grinder with assorted diamond blades. But I’ve never worked with (what I think is) limestone before. To get that seamless machine to stone edge, will a router bit work?
It’s a bunch of questions at once, so walk me through it. Thanks.
Replies
Greetings Ryan,
This post, in response to your question, will bump the thread through the 'recent discussion' listing again.
Perhaps it will catch someone's attention that can help you with advice.
Cheers
http://www.quittintime.com/
damn, am I fat!
Ryan:
If you'd like to destroy a perfectly good carbide router bit, touch it on a piece of limestone.
Take this thing to a stone fabricator. maybe some guy will cut his lunch hour short for a hundred bucks.
Kowboy
Limestone is pretty soft. I would, using my tools cut the hole using a cheap diamond blade on a table saw and raise the blade into the slab. Be sure to blow a lot of compressed air to clean off your tools when you are done. A Skil Mag 77 would work from below with a straight edge as a guide. To round over, a cheap carbide router bit will overheat and burn up quickly. Router bits that work on stone are available. Don't ask me where. I would use a belt sander or a disc sander to round the edge and eyeball the finish.
To join edges I would use Pl 400 to glue the slab to the subsurface and then epoxy at the edge. Clamp the edges together. Dry fit before using adhesives...(duh).
If you do decide to cut it yourself you need an electroplated diamond blade. A typical sintered diamond blade will chip like crazy on most limestone. Harbor freight might have a cheap electroplated diamond blade..
If the seam is nice and tight ie a razor blade wont fit in it, you could glue it with CA glue aka super glue. If you have an accelerant (spray bottle of heptane) for the glue it makes it even easier to work with.
Reinforcing the joint from below with some patches and pl 400 isn't a bad idea.
Limestone can be beautiful stuff but be sure your wife is aware how easy it is to scratch it and if it has a polished surface it is very easy to etch the polish with a mild acid ie vinegar.
Karl
Thanks to all for the replies. My real question with the router was how to make the recesses in the bottom for bolts. But I think I can skip that if the two pieces sit on the same substrate. But for you zbalk, another poster said the stone will kill carbide. Have you used a jigsaw w/ carbide blade on stone? Ane since this is essentially a small sink cut-out, can I roto-hammer the corners the same as you might with wood? This way it's easier to get the the two intersecting lines to meet w/out the corner hanging on by a thread.
Is this a fixed sewing cabinet?
Might could just get by with a good silicone adhesive and gravity. Treat any top joints similarly--say tight on 1/8"; use a matching backer rod, then silicone to keep "stuff" out of the joints.
More I think about it, finding a local stone guy to make the machine cutout sounds better and better. One reason why is from a shade too much experiece detailing out sewingmachine casework. Some of the machines have "L" shaped cutouts; most have radii of various kinds in the corners.
It will behoove you to check on whether this is the 'last' machine to go in the cabinet--dollars to donuts the next one will not fit this one's cutout. That's good and bad. You (or stone cutter) could just back-cut the stone bigger than needed, then make up a lumber blank to fit into the cutout. Much simpler to replace that lumber "keystone" blank for a different sewing machine.
Good to note too, that sewing machines are often hauled out of their recesses for various functions--any slack/gap/clearance on the machine's cut out dimensions has to be observed (don't ask me how I know, or you get to wear the t-shirt <g>).