Where do I go to get a fin made?

Industry Talk
1

Ive been working on a revolutionary fin design with another Sways guy and weve got the shape finished and ready for manufacture.

 Where do we go from here ?

 Ive already asked around injection molding here in Australia but they are quoting 30K for the molds and Ive heard that if I can find the right factory overseas I could get it all done for a lot less.

 Any tips / contacts / phone numbers ? Thanks.

 

2

      Howzit surffoils, Go straight to your shop and start laying up layrs of glass till you get the right thickessand then draw your template on teh glasss nd cu it out of the glass plate and start foiling. You can do it for a heck of  lot less an $30,000. You gotta start some where's and it sounds like now is the time so when some body asks where you got that ne fin you can proudly tell them you made it yourself. Aloha,Kokua

3

Try contacting Steve at Island Fin Designs.  He makes all my custom fins.

4

Thanks for the answers guys but I need 1000 of them and they need to be injection molded so I'm looking for a factory that does that. There must be someone here who has links to a factory in China or similar ?

5

haaaaaaaaa’’

**  fking hilarious
**

6

the first thing you’ll need is a 3d CAD file of the fin(s).  and if you’re only doing a run of 1000, then you’ll want a “soft tool” made.  by soft tool i mean it’s made from aluminum and not steel.  soft tooling is a lot less expensive and i have a resource in korea who can do it for you.  they are very good.  but you have to send them a CAD file so they can quote the job for you.  do you have CAD?

kirk

7

Yes Sways is a last bastion of hand made skills but the fin just cant be made by hand, you'll see when I do the reveal here later..... 

 I got a bite from the US so I'll follow that and see where it leads.

8

Thanks for the info Kirk, no CAD, but I can certainly pay for someone to do the CAD file. Do you know what the cost is of having that done ? Thanks.

9

really depends on who does the CAD work for you, what you give that person to work from (i.e., a detailed drawing, rough prototype, digitized 3d surface file, etc.) and how many fins you need drawn up.  is it one?  three? etc.

you should probably expect to spend anywhere between $1000 and $3000 USD. 

kirk

 

10

Hi Kirk, Id give the guy a finished prototype to work from. $1000 to $3000 isnt too bad as a one off expense.

 I'll PM you.