The Must-Do Practices When Fabricating Porcelain
Due to their durability, appealing aesthetic and low-maintenance nature, porcelain worktops like Dekton, Neolith, Laminam, Lapitec and others are becoming an increasingly popular choice for modern kitchens. However, fabricating this material requires very careful preparation and attention to detail to ensure you are left with a flawless result. Here are our top must-do’s to keep in mind when working with porcelain, ceramic or UCS slabs.
Handle with care
Despite their durability when installed as a worktop, porcelain slabs can be thinner than other materials such as granite or quartz, ranging from 9mm up to 20mm. As such there can be a risk of cracking or weakening if the material is handled or stored incorrectly, prior to fabrication. One of the ways porcelain slabs can be damaged is during loading on to an a-frame or slab rack by a forklift or other lifting solution. Commonly, slabs of stone are perceived to be hardwearing and durable, but when delicate porcelain slabs are dropped too vigorously onto slab racks or a-frames, it can create internal flaws or fractures. These are often not visible from the outside of the slab, but can lead to major problems later on in fabrication, due to the pressurised air present in porcelain, ceramic and UCS. Often, blowouts occur from incorrect handling, which can arise from poor process, education of staff, rushed loading or poorly maintained lifting and handling equipment.
It’s key to ensure that during storage and transport, your slabs are always in contact with a softer material, such as nylon padding. Some fabricators use timber or rubber, however although these materials provide some padding, they aren’t quite as effective as nylon, as they wear down more easily. Having this additional layer helps to absorb any accidental knocks. It is also good practice to take this approach with your other stone slabs too, as granite and engineered stone isn’t always as robust as it looks.
Some workshops dedicate certain a-frames and slab racks for porcelain, but we recommend that all your lifting and handling equipment is suitable to store these materials, in case you ever needed to move slabs around your factory.
During transportation, make sure you have reinforced unsupported areas, such as sink edges, or large surfaces areas, to avoid breakages during transportation or installation. Stonegate Sink Bars are an excellent piece of kit to give thin areas extra strength where needed.
Maintain your lifting equipment
Rubber pads on lifting equipment naturally wear out over time, so they should be regularly inspected and replaced. Using damaged and not-up-to-spec lifters can actually damage your porcelain slabs if the lifters are rested or dropped on the material before picking it up.
Some fabricators use lifters that have a range which is too large for the slabs, especially when dealing with super thin materials such as 5mm and 6mm porcelain, so additional materials are placed between the clamps to fill out the space. This can cause unintended stress points causing these thin materials to bend or shatter.
The Sky Rider has a 0mm-30mm range, allowing for even the thinnest of materials to be safely transported.
Protect the polish
Lots of materials sold as polished porcelain have a layer of glass on the surface, varying in thicknesses between brands. This is what creates the beautiful smooth reflective finish, but also makes it far more prone to scratching. In the workshop, it’s absolutely vital to ensure that the workspace you use to fabricate polished porcelains is as clean as possible, and that measures are taken to protect the polished surfaces all through fabrication. A great product to use to protect the surface from potential damage is Stonegate’s Slab Wrap. This thin film provides a protective layer but ensures the material can still be fabricated with ease.
If your polished materials do become scratched from dragging templating sheets across them, or from other accidental knocks, there are scratch repair kits available to rebuff the shine but it is easier to just keep a clean factory and use best practice during the process.
Double check your dimensions
Accurate measurements are critical when it comes to templating porcelain kitchens, as they are with any material. When taking measurements from your client’s kitchen, you must ensure they are completely true, with no discrepancies, to avoid problems further along the fabrication journey! This minimises the risk of wrong cuts, leading to wasted material and a longer lead time for the customer. Like any material, making last minute adjustments on site is tricky, but even more so due to the delicate nature of porcelain, ceramic and UCS materials.
Consider using a laser templating device, such as the Flexijet 3D, which uses laser technology and incredible precision, to create CAD drawings of the job, in seconds. It also helps avoid the aforementioned possibility of scratching, when using physical templating sheets such as correx.
Choose the right tools
Porcelain, ceramics and UCS materials are can be very dense, due to the process of their manufacture, which makes it crucial to use the appropriate tools for cutting, drilling, and finishing. It’s a good idea to invest in high quality blades designed specifically for this delicate material, to prevent chipping whilst achieving an accurate cut on the saw. Each factory, saw and operator is different, which is why we offer a range of porcelain, ceramic and UCS blades to best suit your processes.
When using routers and core drills, make sure you direct your water stream on the area of material actually being cut, to prevent any burning. Blow-outs and chipping are common during this stage of fabrication, but to solve this problem, we created the BLU UCS range of tooling, designed specifically for porcelain, ceramics and UCS materials. What makes the BLU UCS tooling stand out from other tooling ranges, is that the design of the tools guarantees less friction, minimising blowouts and the chances of chipping, while also running at unprecedented speeds on these materials.
Polished porcelain, has a higher glass content than other types of porcelain. As a result, this makes it even more fragile to work with. When cutting polished porcelain, it’s key to remember never to plunge cut the material. Instead, start your cut from outside of the slab to eliminate the risk of ruining the surface. Once the cut is through, try not to move backwards with the blade still inside the material – this can cause the blade to glaze over, and create chips in the material.
Consider the mesh
The brittle, fragile nature of porcelain means that most brands include a fibreglass mesh on the back for reinforcement. This mesh can impact fabrication of the slab, and often reduces the effectiveness of suction cups on the CNC. Some brands have designed their slabs to have an extra layer of glue over the mesh, which means there are no longer issues with suction cups on the machine, and they work well. There are ways to improve suction such as by wetting the slab, and regular replacement of suction cup seals.
Select your adhesives
Unlike natural stones, porcelain and UCS materials require special adhesives that bond well with the surface. Using a high-quality adhesive designed specifically for this material is recommended, applied evenly to avoid pockets of air. With enough time, the right skills and specific adhesives, you can create seamless joints in every fit. For mitring and gluing, we offer a glue called Invisabond; available in plenty of different colours. To make it simple to find the perfect seaming adhesive for creating non-sag joints and mitres, we’ve developed the Colour Match Tool, with hundreds of pre-matched materials to their colours, saving you time.
Using incorrect adhesives may work at the time, but it could result in joint failure and long-term issues, where worktops start coming apart. It may be tempting to use leftover, incompatible glues for build-ups or general installations, but this could damage the surface and ruin the appearance.
Take care when applying adhesives
Common types of porcelain finishes include matt, polished, chiselled and bush-hammered. During fitting on textured materials, like bush-hammered, adhesives and silicones can become trapped in textured areas, and become difficult to remove! We recommend that fitters use tape either side of joints to protect the textured surface. Porcelain is very acid resistant, which means it can take stronger cleaning agents, unlike natural stones. Also, be diligent during application and make sure you wipe off any excess.
Fabricating porcelain worktops using materials such as Laminam, Dekton, Neolith, Marazzi, Lapitec and many more, requires precision, careful handling, and the right tools. At Stonegate, we have decades of experience in tailoring tools to materials, through rigorous testing at our on-site live workshop, working closely with manufacturers, and through educating our customers on best practice when working with materials like this.
If you are just getting started with fabricating porcelain, ceramic, and UCS materials, or want to take your skills to the next level, book a visit to our Innovation Hub. Our expert Technical Team will take you through tooling demonstrations and training, to help you get the best out of porcelain. Contact us on +44 01482 620400 or [email protected] for any technical advice!
