I am a novice on the subject so go easy…
I have read the archived threads on measuring rocker and other rocker related topics. What I don’t understand is why shapers had custom rocker templates on file with Clark Foam?
I understand curves very well as I look at them all day on a computer. Couldn’t a shaper just modify the bottoms of the stock blanks to suit his designs? The catalogue of stock blanks seemed pretty flush with choices.
My guess is that Clark blanks had “crust” that shapers were trying to preserve for durablity. So, removing to much material rendered a weaker core.
Thanks in advance,
Shine on…
a few words out of a possible 5000 as to why we used custom rockers with Clark Foam.
accuracy in yield
consistency
save time
stronger deck(you got that one)
like blank, but need more/less rocker(you can only shape in so much)
different applications for same blank
proprietary curves
experimentation
because we could
Mike
What do you do now? Do you have new rockers with new manufacturers? Did you get the rocker templates back from Clark?
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What do you do now? Do you have new rockers with new manufacturers? Did you get the rocker templates back from Clark?
For PU, I’ve had to shape to my rockers from the available stuff. Most of the plugs are thicker
and therefore more versatile rockerwise. But it is more work. The Rhyno foam I use is harder than
Clark and has less density gradient, so the shapes actually come out stronger.
The guys that use the machine just have to find blanks their profiles will fit into.
US Blanks is doing a Clark style rocker program that’s coming online now, which will be really cool.
Rhyno is getting ready to offer a similar service.
Most of us kept our original rockers and sent Clark the copy in the first place. If I drew something
on paper and sent it to them, I’d get them to send me a stringer cut to that rocker for my records.
I have a nice collection of them still, and of course they are very useful.
Mostly though, I’ve gone over to the dark side where we cut our own blanks from eps and set
the rocker in a fixture that can be adjusted in part of a vacuum lamination process. It’s a whole
new ballgame.
Mike
Interesting you mention…if you stare at a Clark Blank catalog long enough, those bottom curves start to look awefully similar.
Custom rockers evolved when most boards were still hand shaped.
Thus custom rockers = less time shaping = more profit.
Of course, CNC machines changed all that.
I find that whole ‘proprietary rocker’ trip a bit funny. Like its some kind of secret. Its so easy to measure or trace finished boards.
But you gotta hand it to the early masters…they made it easy for the rest of us.
they sure did make it easy for us dave
actually more easy for us then it is for them lol
Some guys like Rich Harbour for instance even had their rockers set along the deck line instead of the bottom.
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Some guys like Rich Harbour for instance even had their rockers set along the deck line instead of the bottom.
Everybody had their rockers set along the deck line because Clark used a ‘‘deck rocker standard’’.
Once you understood this you never sent them bottom rocker templates cuz they were just going to
transpose them to deck lines anyway. I’m not going to waste time on a detailed explanation of all this
because it’s an arcane topic that now is past. There were very good reasons for it, though.
Mike