Hi all
Here is my first attempt at a wooden fin. I used a chinese food container as a mold cutting out the two long sides and joining them together, approx 1/2" wide and 2" deep. Filled it up half way with fibre strands and resin then pushed the fin into it. After it was set I cut off anything that wasn’t needed, drilled the required holes and sanded to shape.
cheers
Hicksy
bump
As a follow up, that fin snapped off at the base leaving the runner in the box and the fin floating up the beach.
I found that the sides of my fin box opening were razor sharp (big cuts on my fingers trying to get the remains out) might have been the problem.
Oh well back to the drawing board.
cheers
Hicksy
Did someone say wood fins?
man thats an awesome finish!
Hi Lokbox…Who distributes your fins in the UK?
TM
Hey Lokbox, You have a nice fin there. How do you gloss you’re fins? This is my first fin that I’ve ever made and foiled. It is one of the 2 for my next Twinny.
Rainbow fin company has a distributor in the UK. I’ll post up the contact info tomorrow. Thanks
Hi Joelyboaly, our fins are sprayed with automotive urethane clearcoat. Glossing requires polishing, and that just slows down production too much. If I were to gloss one, I’d shoot one coat of gloss, scuff flat with 100 grit, and shoot a second gloss coat. This will help you to avoid hitting any weave. Sand with 320,400, then 500 and polish with surfboard polish #2, finish with mirror glaze #5. Good luck!
i must say thats a dam nice looking fin …
is it moulded ???
i cant see any foil layers , it looks like a veneer insert into a mould ??
curious on price as well , would they be the most expensive style of fin ?? because of the extra quality workmanship …
definatly agree on finish , for production runs , cant beat the 2 pac …
question lokbox …
can you give the exact weight of one of your boxes in grams ???
making boxes is getting anoying …
plus you said once before i could use the box to mould the fin base , so i can still customise fins …
but i would love to get something more streamlined for stock standard stuff …
regards
BERT
Bert-
I remember seeing your flex boxes and was waiting for it to come up again to ask you what materials you made the mould out of and what material you used for the fin box; and molded fins?
Thanks
Joe~
Bert, no they’re not molded. They’re hand layed up. Around 15 layers of clear glass, then the wood, then 15 more layers. Box weighs 35 grams. You can e-mail rainbow fin co. at info@raiinbowfins.com for pricing. You could pod your own fins in the boxes, but you’ll have to figure out how to cut the slot on the side of the base. I’m pretty sure you’ll figure it out! Thanks
Hey Lokbox,
The tab on your fin is tapered isn’t it? Special machining required?
It sure looks sound from an engineering standpoint, or at least that’s what my little braint tells me.
Hope you’ll check in when you’re up this way.
Mahalo, Rich
Hey Bert Burger,
When you are laminating the side fins, do you immediately apply the hotcoat even if the LAM hasn’t completely hardened?
Bert Burger,
How do you foil your side fins so that they’re both exactly the same in foil?
clamp the 2 sides together and treat them like a single fin , use the layers to see where you are and to check symetry …
regards
BERT
yea i forgot , wait till the lam tacks off before hotcoat …
Bert , this truly was an inspiration to me . I’m pushing it back up to the top of the page because many people [myself included !] may like to refer to this as a reference [maybe even a resource ?]
thanks again for this thread mate !
ben
This is fantastic! I’m making a pair this weekend! Thank you Bert.
I’m completely blown away. My wife is going to kill me because my “project list” just doubled.
I agree, this is a great thread. I am just finishing up my first pair and they are turning out great. It is amazing how he can capture just the right shots to explain whats going on!