3d fin printing

ajawesome · Dec 9, 2013

Roy Stuart said: ↑

We've had excellent results with the BLEF foils, the fins can be done with a conventional leading edge also. It's all easily customisable as you know.

Yes we are aware of that possible issue, however are using a printer with a heated chamber which improves the bond strength.

We've tested an ABS fin to destruction and the layers are well bonded, the strength appears to be sufficient, based on our estimates of the forces on the fin during surfing.

Next the polycarbonate is going under the 'hammer' it should be about 50% stronger.

Printing horizontally is obviously easier for the machine and does give microgrooves in the direction of the water flow, something we've been after since '99.

We also have a laser sintered titanium option, titanium fins will be at least twice as strong as glass and resin fins, and will float.

The ultimate material is probably graphene but we'll have to wait for that. My aim is to 3d print the entire board in graphene.

The ABS fins we've printed are very nice and are probably strong enough, they are very accurate and there is no detectable deformation. We are not using a home desktop printer.

PLA is too weak.

All good.

Price wise an 8" polycarbonate singlefin will be over $100, there's more to doing t than meets the eye but hopefully it will become cheaper. from a business point of view upgrading of printers to the next level has to be factored in to the price also, and it's not yet quite as simple as pressing the button and walking away, although it's getting there.

Laser sintered titanium in the same 8" fin will be around $1500 per fin, we can do up to 10.5" fins with a tab for fin box.
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What manufacturer and model 3D printer are you using?

MFitz73 · Dec 9, 2013

Roy Stuart said: ↑

The ABS fins we've printed are very nice and are probably strong enough, they are very accurate and there is no detectable deformation. We are not using a home desktop printer.

PLA is too weak.
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PLA is actually comparable in strength to ABS but ABS has more "flex" to it. So ABS is a pretty good choice for this.

No way would I surf a metal fin. Titanium fin could take someone's life.

White Sea Ape · Dec 9, 2013

Wow the bio mimetics is very neat. I'd really like to be able to buy something like that at my local surf shop.

Roy Stuart · Dec 9, 2013

MFitz73 said: ↑

No way would I surf a metal fin. Titanium fin could take someone's life.
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That doesn't make any sense, a titanium fin is no more dangerous than a fibreglass fin.

Roy Stuart · Dec 9, 2013

White Sea Ape said: ↑

Wow the bio mimetics is very neat. I'd really like to be able to buy something like that at my local surf shop.
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Thanks, why not buy one online?

Adding middle men makes no sense.

White Sea Ape · Dec 9, 2013

Roy Stuart said: ↑

Thanks, why not buy one online?

Adding middle men makes no sense.
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Are they available for purchase on your blog page? Seeing how they have a standard chinook box tab I would even like to try on on my jp Australia wind board. I've seen tubercules on sailboat keels before, in the boats magazines that come to my home in RI

windswellsucks · Dec 9, 2013

i have a RP printer at work, we bought a 5gal bucket of superglue and dip all the RP parts in there. strong as hell, this is a real good idea

windswellsucks · Dec 9, 2013

MFitz73 said: ↑

Titanium fin could take someone's life.
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back in the day, fins used to be metal and the boards were big/heavy. My aunt was surfing 20-30 years ago and her board hit her in the kidney. the metal fin caused all sorts of internal bleeding, she almost died from it. never heard of that from a glass or abs fin but modern boards are much lighter weight

Roy Stuart · Dec 9, 2013

White Sea Ape said: ↑

Are they available for purchase on your blog page? Seeing how they have a standard chinook box tab I would even like to try on on my jp Australia wind board. I've seen tubercules on sailboat keels before, in the boats magazines that come to my home in RI
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They are not listed for sale yet, as we need to do in the water testing first. Thanks for asking.

Roy Stuart · Dec 9, 2013

windswellsucks said: ↑

back in the day, fins used to be metal and the boards were big/heavy. My aunt was surfing 20-30 years ago and her board hit her in the kidney. the metal fin caused all sorts of internal bleeding, she almost died from it. never heard of that from a glass or abs fin but modern boards are much lighter weight
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The titanium fins are very light, much lighter than glass, and the material is very slightly softer than glass.

Any fin can be dangerous, titanium is certainly no more dangerous than glass.

Roy Stuart · Dec 9, 2013

windswellsucks said: ↑

i have a RP printer at work, we bought a 5gal bucket of superglue and dip all the RP parts in there. strong as hell, this is a real good idea
Click to expand...

Interesting

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3d fin printing

ajawesome New Member

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