I’ve decided to embark upon a fin making journey…first time!! I just made a widow maker about a month ago and would like to make some side fins to follow suit. I’ve got some Future Sidebites that I want to copy and I was thinking with wood, but only because that seemed easiest and most cost effective.
I know I could do this with a full mold not using wood, but that seems like a lot of trouble and waste for just making two fins.
What I’m looking for (I think) is a way to make these guys (made by Bert Burger, a really great post by him btw). His method, trade secrets, I understand, but some less efficient method would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
Ryan
…I know Ben! FCS makes this process a lot easier with built in cant! I’m bent (pun intended) on future’s for now, hate to see those cracks that so many boards get with FCS on the deck. Mabyeif I really get going with fin making I will make that switch though.
I think you are underestimating the ease with which glass fins can be made. The pros grind them out in just a few minutes per fin.
I could see choosing wood for aesthetic reasons, or because you wanted to make a thick fin that didn’t weigh too much, but ease of manufacture by hand it is hard to beat glass.
make a shallow box out of aluminum or plywood or whatever; insure that the inside of the box is at least 1" longer than the base of a future fin and at least 1/4" deeper.
fill box with a casting silicone. Dow/Corning make a good one. Pick it up at any artist’s sculpture store. I know there’s a kick ass shop in the bay area for exactly these products.
As the silicone is liquid, place your stock futures fin in the box; just the base; make sure you stop submerging as soon as the foil begins, but insure you capture ALL of the base area. I’ll leave it up to you to figure out how to suspend the fin such that it stays vertical (so your mold is straight), un-toed (I make molds for two fins at a time; this goes a long way to keeping things straight as you can check for symmtery) and doesn’t submerge below the tab.
Once the silicone has set, remove stock futures fin.
You have just used the fin as a plug around which to shape your female mold.
When you wanna put a base on a fin, simply fill the cavity up about 2/3 with resin and milled fibers; perhaps even a few long strands of roving that run from one end to the other in the cavity, allowing time for bubbles to escape the mix. Drop your tabbed (but unfinished) fin in the cavity and let the resin go off. Adjust the cant as required before the resin goes off.
Pull the puppy out; marvel at how well you just copied a fin base. Look closely at the fins you put up the link to; they are done in this manner; wood runs right down in to the base; base is definitely molded; note that the zone fore and aft of the small fin is little more than resin and glass.
" I think you are underestimating the ease with which glass fins can be made. "
True, once you have the fin panel. Making a fin panel to cut it out of is a whole different story. Plus playing around with thicker foils it’s kind of prohibitive, it’d take a lot of glass to get a 7/16" thick panel. I’d like to get some G10 panels though to play around with. Pricey stuff though. Someone posted a link a while ago of an online place that had G10 remnants really cheap for a box of mix and match offcut pieces. Can’t find the link though. It WOULD solve the problem of getting the Futures base on the fin though. Just cut it shape and file out the recesses.
" I think you are underestimating the ease with which glass fins can be made. "
True, once you have the fin panel. Making a fin panel to cut it out of is a whole different story. Plus playing around with thicker foils it’s kind of prohibitive, it’d take a lot of glass to get a 7/16" thick panel. I’d like to get some G10 panels though to play around with. Pricey stuff though. Someone posted a link a while ago of an online place that had G10 remnants really cheap for a box of mix and match offcut pieces. Can’t find the link though. It WOULD solve the problem of getting the Futures base on the fin though. Just cut it shape and file out the recesses.
G10 is just a high modulus epoxy and glass panel in puke green.
You can get the RR epoxy in a high modulus and pigment it any color you like and make your own G10 panels. Only they wouldn’t be G10 because they wouldn’t be puke green.
I’ve done a number of 3/8" panels, it is just 37 layers of 6 ounce cloth and 30-45 minutes of time. Adding another 10 layers would be no big deal.
Also, molding the base is not a problem either, once you make the jig. I made one for molding different cant fins out of teflon plastic, the fin never stuck to it!
When Wil Jobson showed me his “neomorph” next generation of twinzer fins, he said the entire process, layup, cut-out, foiling, glossing, all was finished in one day before lunch. Those were polyester, so the resin was set off much faster.
None of this addresses weight though, you can definitely make them lighter by using a filler and glassing around it, but getting the foil done cleanly is a much tougher job without the layers of glass to guide you.