I would like to ask if somebody has already made their own long board finbox (made from plastic, epoxy resin or wood)? If you could share how you guys do it, it will mean a lot.
Also, i plan to create a long board finbox made from wood. The approach i am thinking is to make 2 halves of the finbox, use a wood router for the grooves and just glue them together. Is this a good idea?
thank you very much guys.
(it seems that the quick reply button does not work for me)
Anyway, the reason i am asking these things is because that:
A 10.5" longboard finbox here costs around $35 to $40 each and it is monopolized here because there are only a few surf shops.
Even if i order the $5 to $10 fin boxes by piece or by bulk, the customs here will tripple or quadruple the cost of the item through tax (yep that is how corrupt my country is). I tried buying a surform before for $14 + delivery charge. When i got to the customs office to claim the package, they charged me almost $40 for a single surform (I still have the receipt for it).
So yep, i am that leaned on making a fin box. (and i am curious how they make the mold eventhough there’s a groove inside the box)
The difficulty is to make it water resistant. Fin boxes get a lot of stresses to cope with. The plastic material is ideal since it can handle stresses without cracking. When cracks appear, water wil intrude.
If using wood, make sure the wood is really water resistant! Even if you glass it, water will enter through inevitable cracks appearing due to wear and stresses from the fin and the shape of the box (very localized points of high stress).
The worst thing you can do is using a material that is too brittle. Plain resin (epoxy or polyester) will fail terribly. It might work when there is sufficient fibre reinforcement.
Actually, I would advice on just buying the boxes. For me it’s not worth the hassle.
Yes, I read the ORIGINAL post. The current post has been edited, and expanded. The ‘‘why’’ portion was not present at the time of my comment, as it was at the time of your comment.
As my father used to say, what is the value of your time? Seems like you would have to invest a lot of time to make a Bahne box.
But here is a technique Duuuude developed with epoxy and cotton flock. Sadly the photos are gone. He mixed cotton flock with epoxy and poured the mixture into a mold. Duuuuude was not making Bahne boxes though. Who knows, with a lot of work and design…
If I was going to make a finbox out of wood I’d use several layers of plywood stacked horizontally, the “track” layer being routed a little wider than the “slot” layers. I’d also consider vacuum infusion to impregnate the wood with one of the wood stabilizers or even epoxy.
Probably easier to make a fin panel and multi-stack the layers.
A box (very strong) can be made from ‘‘Micarta’’, a heat cured phenolic resin panel. Use the linen, or paper, layered panel. I’d use glue and screws to construct it. Pre-cut all your pieces, just as you would with wood.
I am just a new shaper and just learned shaping through the collection of advice i got from the people around me here.
The reason why people where i am at dont recommend Glass-on fins is that in the event that the fins break, it will be easy to replace. They said that this is better than putting effort to repair the board. They have this notion that its better to sacrifice the fin for the board.
Also, another reason why i created the thread (other than the cost of buying a box here) is because that i dont see any discussions regarding finbox materials here in swaylocks.
hopefully, the surf experiments i am going to make will help promote the surfing community here especially for the other shapers who face the same dilemna.
