From the time the blank hits the stands to when you give it that last caress with a soft foam, how long does it take you to shape a board ?
AND
From the moment you lay the glass on the board to when its ready to hit the water, How long does it take you to glass/hotcoat/sand/gloss/ fin system a board ?
For me , shaping can take 3 or 4 hours and glassing can take 3 or 4 days.
Pretty much the same as you. Depending on shapes, of course. Like a 6’ will usually be done in 1 to 1.30 hour, a longboard (9’ to 10’) between 1.30 and 3-4 hours (for multi-stringered blanks). Over 10’, it might take me a whole day or more… Glassing is more or less always the same, because resin gelling time is about ten minutes whatever board you’re glassing. Sanding will obviously take longer for a longer board, as will fine sanding and polishing.
I shaped and glassed a 9’6x23x3 1/2 in about 8 hours usin RR kk,set the fin box also.I pos cured overnight and gave it my patented “400” finish the next morning and surfed it at noon.I surfed it 4-5 times then sold it for 350$.
3-4 hours to shape most anything and twice that to lam and sand.
Working around the clock, building a 10 ft board, glossed with rubbed rails, and glass-on fin, surfing in under 24 hours. This was done in the early 60's. I would not attempt that now.
Have been on inactive duty for well over a year. But a couple of weeks ago I walked into a factory shaping bay and got going by 7:30 or 8:00 AM. By 12:30 I had a 9'0 and a 9'6' in the overhead rack. Stopped for some "Faux" Island plate lunch chow(Terri and Shrimp). Started laying out a 7'0" from scratch(no template). Got it cut out, skinned and thinned, turned the deck rail before the owner of the factory told me he was ready to lock up at 2:30 or 3:00. He starts laminating at 5:00 AM. One of the blanks was harder than Hell and as I skinned it I was wishing I hadn't used it(slow going). I guess if I had stayed active in the "Blue Room" the last year and a half I might have knocked out four or five.
PS-----------Thought I would add that I am old and my shoulder is always sore and achy after the second longboard.
Low Tech Lab.....Design concept to finished product....30 days......No BS......Give us more time and we'll take more time ..........................................................................................................................................................
Make the phone calls....every shaper and glass house says what???......4-6 weeks...
There's a lot of really good people out there...,,,Buyer beware...
Need it right...need it fast...Call Surfding...ONE WEEK...no BS......
Ray
Howzit surffoils, Can't say about the shaping part butone glasser on Kauai did 2 boards in 1 day when UV resin first came out but they were probably clears with sanded finish. He stated them at 8 or 9 in the morning and was done by 5 in the afternoon. Aloha,Kokua
Ray I don’t know how to take that one?
Sure I can do a complete in three days normally and tell the customer one week to be safe.
We have every thing in house so it’s easy. We have a laminator and a sander so it’s easy to bust them out.
I cut a board on on my CNC and it takes 20 minutes to finish shape and mark the fins and fill out the order card with the glassing schedule. I cheat and put lots of extra cutting lines so the board is pretty foiled plus the deck is skimed 1/32 to 1/16 so it stays strong. I shape with my CNC Machine and create my own files from boards I shape and digitally scan. Many shapers have their boards pre-cut by cutting houses and have to wait for their orders to be complete. I have ZERO wait time. The nice thing is you can control the quality of the cuts and shape with the CNC and really dial your boards in. Timmy Patterson is one of the best I’ve seen do this. (He has his own machine in house) We use US First with matching rockers so they all fit. Keep a small inventory of the rockered blanks I commonly use so I can process the orders as fast as possible without loosing quality. If its for a PRO going on a trip same day shape and glass ready for the board bag packing. Start at 9:AM 4:PM Pick Up. Solar Resin and PU of Course. EPS/Epoxy 3 Days. Back when I started 4 to 5 weeks was the norm. These are clear HPSB’s.
Classic Longboards with Volan Cloth and Color work, Pinlines and custom panel glass-on fin can take up to two weeks. Glossed and Polished of course.
Made in California. We have to run the program like this because if we don’t we won’t be in business. Things are different now. We don’t have the shop orders like before so of course we can turn them out faster. Having said that if I had to do all the work myself it would take 3 times as long and my family would starve to death. Everyone contributes there talents to best keep the bottle necks from happening. This is no sells pitch and we don’t advertise it’s all word of mouth and that’s enough for me. It’s all about branding and Marketing anyway to do real numbers and we are far from that equation. For now just build them correctly and deliver them when you say you will. That’s all we can do!
Respectfully,
Surfding
Thank you Surfding.
"For now just build them correctly and deliver them when you say you will. That's all we can do!"
For me it's all about meeting the dead line. For years I've read that so and so can shape a board in one hour...ect...ect
I ordered a surfboard. The guy said 4-6 weeks. At week 4 he had the blank but had not even started the board. At week 6 the board was "done" but not glassed. I build my own now. I don't build surfboards for a living.
I do repairs on the side. I will meet or beat the date I give the customer. Every time. That's why people keep coming back. I'm not fast. I finish the job on time as promised.
Stingray
Composites ? Don't ask - I hate thinking about the reality of it.
PU - I have done 24 hr turnaround on boards for last-minute boat trips, using UV.
The longest stall in workflow with these emergency ones would be waiting for the FCS resin to go hard enough to sand in the wee hrs of the morning.
JD
Stingray aka Ray:
That’s the key anyway: Don’t over promise and under deliver.
Sound to me that you have a good work ethic.
It’s not my only source of income however it is a business so I have to run it like one.
I see a lot of factories ran like a Jerry Springer show and it is just embarrassing.
Surfding
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I see a lot of factories ran like a Jerry Springer show and it is just embarrassing.
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That made me laugh.....