Material Advancements
“Put some mustard on it!” Taken literally, that’s what our material development team says when ready to test a new formula. On the surface, the science of solid surface is direct; it is composed of granular mineral and resin. Dig deeper, and you will discover that it is a composite that can be engineered to enhance the material properties of what the Earth naturally gives.
Our colors and patterns are pure art, but we are constantly playing with the underlying science to optimize resistance to scratching, cracking, dulling, fading, build-up, and staining. The workability of the material is evaluated for installation, maintenance, and repair.
Baths by Shay is unique for a small business, because we have a research and development team that is constantly innovating new formulas.
3D Molds
Our chosen production technique is molding versus fabrication of sheets, because it keeps our patters unbroken and prevents charging our customers for waste. A molded material, however, shrinks as it cures. Collected data enables us to predict shrinkage and progress our molding into the third dimension.
Baths by Shay has in-house CAD/CAM expertise and CNC equipment, which taken in conjunction with our material knowledge allows us to create 3D molds up to 6 inches thick. We are expanding into modern integral sinks, tabletops, and mixed media furniture.
Creatively called the #oNe, the below pictured vanity is our first foray into 3D profiles. Our prototype showed some splashing on the drain lip, so we are modifying it into the #oNe.1 to take the slope all the way back to the faucet curb.
Flanges and structural braces are molded into our tabletops to handle multiple support mechanisms: restaurant style pedestals, individual legs, and cap existing furniture. Our standard tops measure 2 inches larger than typical furniture specification to allow capping, but we can also manufacture true form. In addition we can create monolithic pieces without surface seams up to 75 inches. Standard sizes include:
We were feeling playful when we designed the #fOur console, whose main purpose is to experiment with solid surface box joints and hardware. Our model predicts that the proposed backside joint works well on the underside of a horizontal board but is unsightly on the top, where a through-hole direct into the vertical works better.
