i got some words published in the Surfers Journal 24.3. I’m guessing some patrons here will more than likely have an opinion about the content. P.14
Do you have a link or a JPEG shot of the pages we can view please ?
That would be great. Here in Germany, my chances are almost 0 to get ahold of the surfers journal. I buy all issues I can get my hands on when in France, but here…
Made it by Barnes & Noble the other day, and got a chance to do a quick speed-read of the article in question, two pages on Channel Islands surfboards and their CNC setup. The article featured Ron Somebody, don’t recall the last name, but I assume that’s gnargnar? They said he was a motorcycle engineer trained in CNC who came (to Ventura) from some desert town, and he was re-shaping (pun intended) CI’s computer scanning model, for more accuracy over the status quo (which tends to produce a lot of unintended variations from the original, as surfboards are difficult to scan accurately).
They talked about the small imperfections and asymetrical variations in a hand shaped board, and said that these are eliminated by the computer, which balances them out in order to achieve perfect symmetry of a machine-shaped board. But with the new methods, they can even duplicate the small asymetrical quirks for their team boards, which are quick shaped and glassed as short-lived prototypes. But the boards available to the general public are always symmetrical. They went on to say the handshapers are still king at CI, but the CNC boards are getting closer to technical perfection, or something like that.
Be interesting to hear gnargnar’s comments on the article, or anyone else’s. To me the article itself just seemed kinda like a fluff piece paean to CI surfboards and their computer / machine shaping business model, you know, its all good and it just keeps getting better, etc. Did I miss something? Anyway, kudos to gnargnar, if he’s the guy featured in the article, he seems like a talented guy just doing what he’s good at doing, and found a home for his skills at CI.
Greg Griffin might have some words about accuracy (or not) of shaping machines.
Although iirc, he was impressed with CI’s facility.
As for anything, precision and accuracy are dependent on the quality of the tool used and the skill/ability of the individual who uses it.
To me it was like an advertisement for Channel Islands… A broader overview of others in the field would have been better…
hey Huck and Paul, i think you guys are commenting on a different article in the preveous issue of TSJ.
gnar’s article is in the latest issue 24.3 and is about math and surfboards… I don’t think the CNC is even mentioned in the piece. Just got my issue in the mail yesterday.
Ok, I’ll check it out if they have the new issue next time, just assumed they would have the current issue on display.
Can you share some of the article, or your reaction to it? Love to hear what he’s on about.
Malaroo used to get way in depth on that subject, I miss his posts! Here’s a link to a thread that he participated in, it wandered a bit but began to get interesting when he joined the fray at page 8.
http://www.swaylocks.com/groups/geometry-surfboards?page=7#comment-82137
Can you give a concise and simple explanation of cissoid curves, relating them to ellipses?
This is the engineer at C.I. I met 3 years ago
He upgraded the machines they had then , they got rid of the Warren Cornish machine and now have a new Promotion .
When I was there last July they showed me their fin making operation which he made all the set ups .
Anyone who has used machines and the programs for them know this can be the most accurate way of making a board and developing new ones IF you have complete quality control of that machine .
Many machines are run - maintained poorly .