A couple years ago Nick Lavery ( a professor at SwanSea University) started work with Graham Foster and Dave Carswell on FIN Designer. He was involved in a few fin design threads back then and I provided him with some CAD designs of our fins. Well the Beta is finally ready to show. I got a chance to play with it yesterday and it’s very close to APS3000 software for board design. Anyone who is interested, please stop by the booth and check it out.
Can we play with it???
Please???
I think that’s why they are flying all the way from the UK today:)
any news on the release of the software? ive got aps3000 down pat, but i really want to design my keels etc on computer so i can get them foiled and cut on a cnc.
This is a really cool program that is really easy to use. You don’t need a pass to check it out. The Lokbox booth is in the lobby just go to the convention center and go in the lobby right by starbucks…
The plan is to have a free version available on the web to design and a professional version that will output files to CNC. So, yes you will be able to play with it.
!!!
Cheers!
!!!
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any news on the release of the software? ive got aps3000 down pat, but i really want to design my keels etc on computer so i can get them foiled and cut on a cnc.
You cannot currently get fins foiled on a CNC. You can get them templated. Or you can throw down and get a mold made. But you cannot get anything close to a reasonable price for a CNC one-off with foil unless you get it custom foiled in glass.
hth
BTW, I think designing fins in CAD-style software is super cool…just that I do not know of any cutter that works on materials as hard as the ones necessary to make decent fins that is CNC controlled…
I’ve heard Curtis is at Bahne and we’ll find a source. The biggest problem as I see it is fixturing to make sure the work piece does not deflect or chatter.
I have people here on the coast that cut metal etc. tom you would be familiar with toolmakers machines. lots of them sit around not cutting all day. whats to stop one of them cutting a panel into fins?
Futures (where Curtis used to hang out) cuts all of their G10 fins on a CNC setup. They have multiple machines. They cut prototypes and fins for their team guys or testing. You could probably buy time on one of their machines. A decent set of fins shouldn’t cost more than a few hundred bucks or so. Or you could have them make an aluminum mold to use with their injection molders. That shouldn’t cost more than ten grand (not including the molded fins).
Yep those are pretty realistic numbers. We cut our own molds thank you. But, I don’t want to tear up the ways of of milling center on fiberglass. So, we’ve got a few friends with CNC routers that are setup to work with non-metalic dry cuts.
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Futures (where Curtis used to hang out) cuts all of their G10 fins on a CNC setup. They have multiple machines. They cut prototypes and fins for their team guys or testing. You could probably buy time on one of their machines. A decent set of fins shouldn't cost more than a few hundred bucks or so. Or you could have them make an aluminum mold to use with their injection molders. That shouldn't cost more than ten grand (not including the molded fins).
Or foil your own with an angle grinder for less than $10 a set.
Kendall,
Not to step on your intelligence and no offense to Future fins,but Daum Tooling use to cut all the stuff for Ofishl back in the beginning…they were the first of the first to use CNC cutting tech. in this business,and are light years ahead of the rest.Herb
Thank you Tom for the invite over - Dave and I have had a great time at ASR and in San Diego. Also a big thank you to Jimmy and the Lokbox crew for letting us hang out at their stand.
To the guys posting above - I hope we got to see some of you at ASR - its a bit difficult to tell by the swaylocks login names 
For more information about the software you can check out www.datdesigner.co.uk - The site needs a bit of an update at the mo but we will be doing this as soon as we get back th the uk. We’ve got a couple of changes to do to the software to make it a little more stable but as soon as this is done we’ll be making a demo version available
Graham - Fin Designer Team
Cheers boys glad to have ya. Have a good trip home and I’ll see ya on the other side of the pond!!
No offence taken Herb. I haven’t spent any time at O’Fishl. I have at Future. Those guys are cutting edge… maybe not out there by themselves, but they are out there nonetheless. They’re part of a bigger group that’s also involved in aircraft and boat design. The fins are just a small part of what they do… and they used to have Curtis Hasselgrave - who knows a buttload about foil design.
I met Curtis some years ago.
Unfortunately for me,it’s when I did a final distructo to my right shoulder on a then futuristic plastic ramp called the ,“Rad Ramp”.
It was my first and last chance at grabbing a spot in Skateboarder mag.
If you ever see C tell him I got my shoulder reconstructed some 15 years later,and it’s better than new.Herb