Has anyone heard about or done research on the process of making an aluminum coated surfboard? Check this http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geuvLeaEJFHPAA5k.lzbkF/SIG=13mqqm6nc/EXP=1162066526/**http%3a//www.tritonfoundation.org.au/index.php%3foption=com_content%26task=view%26id=495%26Itemid=66
Hmmmm, shiny polished “chrome” finish. What might that look like to the man in the gray suit???
Haha, I bet the cudas would love it too. It sounds like a decent design, i just wish i could get some more info, especially the foam he used. If any one has tried a similiar production…
"One of the keys to the invention has been the perfection of a secret technique to apply molten aluminium to the foam core without melting the foam.
And importantly the skin forms a mechanical bond, rather then a weaker chemical bond as is the case with fibreglass."
“the skin forms a mechanical bond, rather then a weaker chemical bond as is the case with fibreglass”
So then, that’s either a typo, or they’re misinformed, or they’re flat-out lying.
You know what I thought when I saw this? First, what a great idea! Secondly, my chrome-plated sockets sure get blisteringly hot in the sun, I wonder what the wax-melting, and nuts burning, -factor on a chrome surfboard would be?
Neat! Kinda reminds me of that Magnum PI episode (Solo Flight?) where higgins claimed that he and his mates surfed on the wings of a crashed aircraft back in one of the great wars…
CG
I’ve definitely heard of applying aluminum skins or veneers to a board, but most likely through a vacuum bagging process as opposed what this article is referring to.
Rastovich rides a board in Blue Horizon that he calles the “aluminum silver bullet” and it looks really cool. Also I vaguely remember reading an interview with Dick VanStraalen where he tells of his experiments with aluminum veneers. He was very optimistic about those boards but then hit a wall when he learned that someone had established a patent already.
Been wondering about aluminum skins for a while now come to think of it. Are there any swaylockers that have tried it?
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Secondly, my chrome-plated sockets sure get blisteringly hot in the sun, I wonder what the wax-melting, and nuts burning, -factor on a chrome surfboard would be
There would be no observable factor, as a chrome plated surfboard would probably appeal mostly to someone who would buy it to match his or her crappy rims…and thus it would be an automotive accessory rather than real surfcraft.
Wink wink. (more power to you if you really make it work)
Any actual AL board coating with intentions of being put in the ocean would have to have some kind of coating over it, so it probably wouldn’t be chrome looking anyway (you would actually have to polish out the aluminium to get that chrome look as you don’t plate that material as far as I can recall, although that part of my life is getting fuzzy).
Reads like a CV, not a source of Swaylockian knowlege.
Interesting…vapor deposition of the metal?
The curious could go to the Patent Office site. If there’s been a patent issued it should be available.
Edit: I’m thinking it could be painted but it’s appearance would be as a poop-out.
I finally had a chance to re-read without things like the G.D. phone ringing etc. if you all know what I mean…actually that article didn’t really give much of any detail other than the guy is a Marine Engineer out of Oz who work a 5 week on/5 week off schedule…so the guy probably knows materials and ocean effects. I guess that tosses the whole thing into the unknown-to-us-via-the-article manufacturing methods and application methods, and makes that sunshine/heat factor more predominant. Temper of material, method of bonding, etc. all are important.
If you meant by “vapor disposition of the metal” what I think you mean, yeah, that would be a neat trick. Lots of ways to screw up or damage aluminum in immediate, short term, and long term manners.
I still think cosmetics are going to be what keeps a lot of people in business as surfing homogonizes…probably the biggest long term threat to the surftechs if they really want to completely own the surf world.
Yeah, I checked through the data bases in both the u.s. and austrailia and i couldnt find any information about the board design. So maybe somebody will stumble onto something… Yeah, I was confused about when he said that the mechanical bond was stronger then the chemical bond of resin and glass, I all ways thought it was the opposite…
The metal is probably not vapor deposited, but sputtered on. Spuutering is done for many things, like kid’s toys that look ‘chrome plated’ but are actually plastic, and ‘chrome’ fishing lures. I’m not so sure about the 0.6mm measurement, though, more like 0.6 microns would be more accurate for sputtering or vapor deposition.
Sputtering leaves a more ‘rough’ surface microscopically, vapor dep can leave a more uniform and smooth surface, and so vapor dep is used for coating astronomical mirrors and things like that. Sputtering is much more cost effective, and can coat more complex shapes at lower temps, but with a rougher surface. The roughness cannot be seen by the naked eye, so no big deal for cosmetics. For instance, before a specimen (like an insect) is placed in an electron microscope, it is sputtered with gold, at such a low temp that nothing happens to the insect (except what happened when vacuum was pulled, like lungs exploding) otherwise, no thermal damage.
My guess is that the board is sputtered at some point, but the surface sputtered onto (substrate) has to be polished, because a thin film of aluminum will make ANY defect or roughness stand out better than a gloss does.
On the other hand, if the 0.6mm figure is correct, then there is enough aluminum thickness there to polish, as long as the roughness of the substrate was below 0.3mm or so.
One thing they may be overlooking has already been mentioned. The emissivity of Al is such that it gets hot as hell in sunlight. Most people already know this. I wonder how they deal with this, other than keeping it in the shade when not in the water. In the water, the conductance of Al is high enough that the underside touching water should keep the deck cool.
I will have to say, it looks cool, though.
JSS
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On the other hand, if the 0.6mm figure is correct, then there is enough aluminum thickness there to polish, as long as the roughness of the substrate was below 0.3mm or so.
0.6mm Isn’t that something like the thickness of a couple of sheets of paper? I worked at a place where we had guys mechanically grind wall thicknesses to roughly 0.5 mm plus tolerances, but those were carefully mapped in 1" grids and done sparingly, and not for surface finish. I’d hate to be the polisher on something like this if they do it by hand. I don’t know if they could electropolish with a foam core…electropolish? Jeepers…get some decent sleep at night for a few years and the mind melts…can’t remember if that is even a real thing.
You know, tangentially on subject here…
Can someone explain something to me, this has been bugging me for decades…
If a black surface gets hotter in the sun than a white surface because it absorbs more light and reflects less, why does a totally reflective surface (like a chrome socket) get even hotter?
Shwuz,
The best way I can explain it is that the metal (aluminum, chrome), has such a low emissivity. Even though the black surface absorbs much more energy, it also can radiate more energy. A black surface has a large emissivity, and will radiate heat quickly. Metals have a low absorption, but a very low emissivity, so, in effect, if you put the black and chrome pieces out in the sun together, the black one will heat up faster, but over time, the chrome one will reach a higher temperature. The chrome piece simply cannot get rid of the energy it absorbed quickly, so it just builds up, and we burn our hands.
By contrast, a white surface absorbs more than the aluminum, but it radiates almost as well as the black surface, so it stays cooler.
I hope this makes sense, and it has been many years since I studied this stuff, but that’s the way I remember it. If I am wrong, please correct me.
Anyway, I wouldn’t want to be the person who has to pick the aluminum board up after someone left it on the beach for an hour or two. At least it wouldn’t get stolen so easily.
JSS
actually the boards dick van straalen made were all for a guy named ron hasted who does have patents, the details of im not sure. ron and dick had a falling out of sorts and they no longer worked together on the board, ron had one of my staff shape a lot more prototypes for him. he then moved to the phillipines to manufacture the boards. we lost track of him then probably about 3 years ago. he was on the front cover of the gold coast phone book with one of the boards.
Alu has a nasty habit of not weakening gradually but failing dramatically, without any warning. This results in instant breakage. I have seen alu masts and sailboats fail like this. It ain’t pretty. Nice razor sharp bit of metal in the spin cycle and strapped to your body by your leash… Sorry, but anyone even contemplating such a production method should have his head checked.
You want a metal shiny board? Just fill your gloss resin with alu oxide powder, copper finish? Copper powder… these substances should be available through your local chemist. Alu oxide is used in yachting to UV proof epoxy.
West system has it as a filler, product 420…
Bluff
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Interesting…vapor deposition of the metal?
The curious could go to the Patent Office site. If there’s been a patent issued it should be available.
Edit: I’m thinking it could be painted but it’s appearance would be as a poop-out.
Utility patent application for a “BOARD-LIKE SPORTSCRAFT” submitted to the US Patent Office by Hasert, Ronald Francis (Gold Coast, AU) January 8, 2004 (20040005825). You can read the description of the board (and a list of the claims) at:
A quick scan indicates:
Metallic skin can be sprayed onto the foam (or onto an intermediate layer of zinc or an adhesive), or preformed panels can be adhesively bonded onto the foam.
There are portions of the board that are not covered by a metallic skin in order to to take into account differential thermal expansion rates between the skin and core, and handling the board when it has been in the sun.
MTB