# Enlarging cutout in a corian countertop



## Vrtigo1 (Mar 18, 2010)

I know this isn't really woodworking related, and have posted this over on home refurbers, but the LJ forum is a lot more active, and I'm sure some folks here will have some suggestions.

My wife dropped a cast iron pot on our glass cooktop, so I just bought a new one and am in the process of replacing old with new. The old one was a 30" model and the new one is 36". I've gone through the process of enlarging the cutout in our Corian countertop by measuring how much larger it needs to be, then I used double sided tape to put edge jointed boards on each side of the opening and used those as a reference to guide a pattern bit in my router. This worked great for all but the portion of the opening that's within about three inches of the back wall. The problem is the router's base is hitting the back wall (backsplash area) so I can't cut back far enough. I don't have a smaller router (i.e. a trim router) and even if I did I have doubts that a smaller router would have enough power to make the cut. Any advice for other options to cut the area of the countertop that is too close to the wall to get a router in there?


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## cabmaker (Sep 16, 2010)

Smaller router, flat sided router base, jigsaw, multi-tool, the list goes on and on. Have fun ! JB


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## KenDolph (Sep 28, 2009)

My choice for this is the multi-tool. The cheap one is on sale for Harbor Freight for about $18.00. Use the blade for wood. This will even let you cut under the backsplash if there is one.

Make sure that you sand the entire length of the cut as smooth as the top. any tool marks is a place for cracks to start.

Then wrap metallic tape around the opening. This will dissipate any spot heating that can occur.

I hope this helps


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## Vrtigo1 (Mar 18, 2010)

Thanks for the suggestions. I ended up measuring the distance I had to work with and bought a small hitachi router to finish the job. Not very impressed with the quality of it, but that's another story!


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## BillWhite (Jul 23, 2007)

Be sure to add the tape as Ken said.
Bill


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