Just out…
Please tell more.
Seen this on instagram. It’s apparently only made of glass (and resin, obviously). It’s hollow, fins glassed on, leash loop. I’m wondering how they did that. Solvate the foam out after cutting the very tip of the nose off? Or something else?
Interesting.
Maybe molds, vacuum and shells…
Maybe not FG?
Is that a crack in the deck side behind the logo?
I’m thinking glass an EPS extra strong, drill a hole, pour in acetone, melt it and pour out the liquid.
Instant hollow board.
It takes very little acetone to melt EPS.
I’ve built hollow boards (hws) the foam is what’s good about foam boards, IMO. Can’t see any advantage in eliminating it.
Built by Paul of the Lucky Bastards at UWL in France
Paul finishing a show board while I was there .
Great people .
Lucky Bastards
They earned it!!!
Creative Killer Shit…
I can tell you from experience that they didn’t just pour acetone in it and get that result. Acetone dissolves EPS, but it doesn’t get it all and there’s a hard shell/residue left on the glass. I tried for the same result and didn’t get it. Ended up cutting the board along the rails and tried to get the rest out, but the foam was actually tougher after the acetone treatment and couldn’t be sanded out. Ended up with a somewhat transparent result. I’ll post pics when I can find them.
surfthis’s experience echos my thoughts on the idea of an EPS core and dissolving it. There would be residue, gunk, and just a plain old mess inside that thing if they’d done what some have guessed. It’s as clear as it is because there never was a core inside.
Perhaps they used a shaped board for a mold, hit it with mold release and lammed both halves separately, glassed on the fins and runners on the bottom half, demolded and cleaned everything up and glued the halves together at the apex of the rail.
(to me) it looks like a stress crack on the deck side up by the logo.
A board like that would probably look almost invisible in the water. Would love to ride something like that if it was possible to ride.
The original idea was a clear board with some sort of electric light inside the tail beaming upward. The foam didn’t go away like I hoped so that changed.
I shaped some ribs into it for a bit of strength so that when the foam came out it wouldn’t be too floppy.
I really like the shot looking into the hole in the tail.
The third shot is after I split the board along the rails. It shows some of the leftover melted foam from pouring acetone through the board. When I put it back together, it twisted up pretty bad, since it’s not a rider, I wasn’t that concerned with it, but straightened up pretty good when I glassed it to the mount.
It was pretty transparent, but had an amazing (to me) amount of foam residue after pouring about a half gallon of acetone through it.
Because it was pretty funky, I added some color to the finished product. I ended up putting a 4’ flourescent shoplight behind the board mounted in a fiberlass enclosure I built with a boat builder friend of mine’s help.
My wife loves the lamp, so I guess it all worked out.
Acetone EPS mess:
Well, three reasons come to mind immediately.
Aesthetics! I for one am immensely attracted to riding something that would be invisible in the water.
Guessing that’s a pretty universal response so anyone who figured out a functional solution could make a lot of money.
Also a lot to learn watching the hydrodynamics.
Totally bitchen show board, but I would not ride that giant lure here in Northern California.
not to be disagreeable but I don’t think that board pictured would be invisible in the water. And I dont think you could see water dynamics any better than you can see the face of the guy holding it. At any rate, clear boards are cool looking, but old news.
http://www.swaylocks.com/groups/see-through-hollow-surfboard
http://www.swaylocks.com/forums/oareye-surfboards-clear-hollow-technology
On a side note, people have mounted go pro cameras underneath to study water flow.
Well, I’m seeing all those points as “half full” with this example, whereas, if not exactly disagreeably, I’d say you’re seeing them “half empty” today- with very good reason, Huck.
Xylene or Toluene will melt the EPS too. Done it by accident.
I’ve wanted to try it, but you’d have to glass the board really heavy if you plan on surfing it. I think you could get it all melted by shaking the liquid around, but it’s pretty nasty smelling stuff.
I don’t know how you could get clear like that. That board must be a blown from the inside of a mold, using heated acrylic or polycarbonate, or shaped from a block of the same.
Links? I’ve wanted to do this.
A truly clear board would have advantages for potentially viewing hydrodynamics over the entire bottom surface. A go-pro would be a point source – highly localized observations.