Show us your home-made fins ....

It does look great,i realise it has been foiled & love the idea of the mould esp the bit with little sanding needed. I did not explain myself well,what I meant by curved was-is the fin flat or does it belly out like the pc-crv fcs fin? I guess it’s just the effect of the light hitting the carbon!?

Oh, sorry, no theyre not curved. Im sure ill make a curved set at some point, just need to get my hands on some originals to mold from

This is my attempt at a keel fin for a fish im planning on making in the near future. It’s a bit wobbly, but I think the basic foil is looking alright? What do you guys think?

I have just been recently thinking of laying up some fin panels & have been toying with the idea of doing it over a piece of 10" plastic pipe!! A bit small maybe? Trying to hunt down something similar. Read some ride reports and it’s got me interested. Slanj
Yours Rikki,

hi there , 'spey' !

 

  I layed up my curved fins over a jar , firstly.

 

Then , when I found the curve too small / tight , I taped them onto a plastic bucket , and continued laminating , a couple of layers at a time ...

 

 The fins are on the 'my fin tinkerings' thread ...I think on the first page , from memory ? [I'll go search , now .... just a sec , mate !]

 

[ EDIT :  HERE is the link ...they are on the bottom post of this page ...enjoy !

 

http://www.swaylocks.com/forums/my-fin-tinkerings           ]

 

.... okay .... I hope this helps ?

 

 cheers !

 

  ben

Perfect Ben,that’s exactly what I thought when I saw the 10" pipe,just too small. Spoke to a work mate of mine who runs the Salmon hatchery & I’ve managed to get hold of a small lenth of 2’ plastic pipe. The only buckets I have big enough have raied up ribs! Did the taper from the bucket wall cause you any problems? Thanks for sharing the link,love the little blue one’s on that 6’11" You’ve obviously spent a lot of time on fin templates & trials,that’s an impressive collection of fins. What’s your take on the ride difference with the curved quad set? Thanks again. Slanj
Yours Rikki,

hi again , 'Spey' ! [is that an area / beach in Scotland  , by the way ?]

 

cheers ,  yes I DO partake in a bit of fin experimenting , every now and again [did you see that that thread runs for a few pages ?]

 

  the layup ...

 

   because it was a big bucket [and small fins] , the taper wasn't involved ...from memory , I used the top half of the bucket ? [maybe I needed to have photo'ed THAT , too ?]

 

  ummm ...the handful of times I surfed them ,  the curved fins 'seemed' to produce  'lift ' in the tail , but felt nice and 'grippy' in turns , if that makes sense ?

 

  hopefully I will get to trial them again , in better waves , in one of my brother's MANY MANY boards , at some stage in the future ....

 

 cheers mate !

 

  ben

Sound Ben,i like the description of them fins! Think I need to try & lay up a set. Only made one fin with a glass layup. I noticed it was a busy thread,im going back there in a moment to glean some more info. Really innovative idea Ben & thanks for the welcome input. Yes the “Spey” is The second longest,fastest flowing river in Scotland,also the best Salmon fishing in Scotland! in my humble opinion. I’m lucky to work on her,like my pop & his father before. It’s my river haaaa or so my daughters always tell people. I stay in tugnet at the river mouth. Slanj

Yours Rikki,

Thanks jrandy and speysurfer.

@jrandy: Yep it’s a single foil with fiberglass around edge. I made it by laminating 5 layers of 6oz cloth on the back of the plywood before I started foiling. That way the glass would become exposed as I foiled away the wood. I learned this technique from greenlights youtube video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elB1dQBDKjc

@speysurfer: I appreciate the foiling advice. What do you reckon are the benifits of thining out the tip?

Verde-I like it. How did you make it? Is that fiberglass around the edges? Single or double foil?

Camplus-thanks for the link a few pages back, good information.

 

How sharp or dull or round are people making the edges of their fins? I only have a cheap molded thruster set for reference. Thanks!

 

Thanks Hans!

Thank you for the complement, advice, and resource. Very cool application, especially for free!

I’ve made a Rhino / Grasshopper-function for designing fins for laser-cutting. It is fed with an outline, and has a slider for fin width, and placement of widest point in relation to trailing and leading edge.

First testing set cut from 1mm cardboard - not yet glued. Will cut wood next time!

Very nice work E! What kind of laser was used for cutting the cardboards?

..... yeehaaa , NOW you're  talking !!

 

 I , for one ,  can't wait to see that applied to fibreglass fin panels , Emil !

 

 .... well done , mate !

 

  when laser-cutting and foiling takes over , how nice THAT will be !

 

 Let the machines deal with the itch ...I WANT one ! [machine , not itch , that is !]

 

..... there's been  too many years of itchy and scratchy[ness] , for me....

 

  cheers mate !

 

  ben

 

Good god - those laser cut layers are amazing!

I feel like such a hack in comparison.  These mini-keel sidebite fins for a recent project were made from glass offcut scraps and some pieces of balsa I had laying around.  There are 10-12 layers of cloth built up as a spine, followed by balsa, cut out, foiled and capped with several more layers of cloth.

I've been doing fins using this method (or sandwiched with wood on both sides for single fins) for something like 40 years.

 

Very nice work emil!

It’s comparable to what I’m doing with finFoil. But you’re a step ahead with the laser cutting.

Finishing the stepped fin (sanding smooth) is very easy an accurate.

Keep them coming!

Single foil.  Spanish Cedar with accents of Purpleheart and Redwood.  2x4oz

twinzer in progress

Nice foiling pico! Fins look very good.

 

This was found under a house by a bloke at work. Outlines a bit wonky but the foil is quite good. Im going to try it in my longboard next time its small n fat.