I was bored tonight and didn’t have any blanks to shape so it decided to make some plywood fins from a FCS fin (GS)… small longboard side fin
I was thinking of glassing them with a single layer of 4oz glass… they seem strong just as wood… do you think the tab’s will be strong enough? has anyone here ever made wood FCS fins? I did search and nothing in FCS style… Or maybe I should just cut the tabs off and use them for glass on’s
yes.
I usually do two or three layers of 4-6oz on the tabs [once I’ve thinned the wood with a file.] I do at least 2 layers 6oz EACH side of the fin too, by the way.
Also, I found drilling out the screw hole larger than the grub screw size, then filling the hole with chopped / milled glass and resin helps… otherwise, you’re screwing through one layer of cloth into wood, not really watertight that way.
… good job Ben !! they look nice . cheaper than solid glass, too. You can make PLENTY of pairs / sets for the price of a glass set this way. Good on you !
'ben2'
[ps - I also make three tab single fins, occassionally]
Great idea for the grub hole if you are going to keep the wooden tabs. I’ve made several sets of balsa keel-style fins for fish that travel, and I usually either file the wooden tabs much smaller than their original size, then glass with a couple (3) of layers of 4 oz per side, or make the tabs entirely out of layers of 6oz sandwiched between the 4oz laminating the fin. Both methods seem to work just fine, and are both cheaper (well, not for the client)and lighter than solid glass fins. Not to mention, if you can find “flaming” balsa with the irridescent specks, it makes for a heck of a good looking fin on an old school fish.
Oh for cryin’ out loud Ben!! (Shipman) Do you lay golden eggs too??? “I was bored tonight, so I made these unreal fins”??? You’re a ringer, you’ve gotta be!! Well, gotta say, my compliments to the chef, yet again. Your skills never cease to amaze me…
Jeffrey - I/we’d love to see those fins you make out of balsa. Especially the ‘flaming’ ones… I’m guessing you haven’t had any problems with the stress that the bigger fish fins put on the FCS plug.
Ben2/Chippinator - when you say drill out the grub screw hole, you’re talking about the little circular indentation on the fin where the grub screw pushes against, right? Not the hole that the screw goes through the plug… Am I correct in that assumption?
"… I’m guessing you haven’t had any problems with the stress that the bigger fish fins put on the FCS plug.
Ben2/Chippinator - when you say drill out the grub screw hole, you’re talking about the little circular indentation on the fin where the grub screw pushes against, right? Not the hole that the screw goes through the plug… Am I correct in that assumption?
chipper to waxer… over…
I use THREE plugs per keel fin when using FCS tabbed keels I make…so far so good !
yep, the little circular 'indentation ’ on the tab is right! Screw those suckers HARD into the wood, to get the idea where to drill!
Bert, halcyon...
Bert, don’t you do something like reinforcing / moulding the tabs / bases of your fins with epoxy, from memory…the ones I saw in Ross’s shop…the canted ones for futures boxes I think they were, from memory…I seem to remember seeing epoxy-like base material. Is that right ?
Halcyon, do you do wood FCS tabbed fins, too ?
ben
hey mate.
the fins look real nice. in my fin building experience,( for self fabricated fins for existing plug systems) the ply is a great idea- aesthetically great for the foil contour lines. i guess you used marine ply ( nz hazard rating h6+) ? even tho fully encased in glass a tiny breach would otherwise be disastrous for ya eh? may i suggest laying up your own ply, and somewhere in the middle of the layup throwing in a couple of cross directional panels of say 8oz boxweave carbon- sure would strengthen up those tabs. i’ve had alot of sucess with a epoxy/divinacell/carbon fin i press in a mould and got it down to relying on 2 layers of cloth either side of the cell to attach the tabs. worked in all my (short)boards in alot of heavy waves.
hope it helps mate
Thanks guys I will take all into consideration…Waxfood, gee wiz, I don’t know what say…
HEIST…laying up my own ply’s/carbo sounds like a great idea. but wood laminate is kind of pricey around here…
Hi Finman,
You look to be very passionate about you work that's great. I did a lot of R&D for F.C.S. some years ago
and we found that the tagges were breaking at 32 lb’s per sq’’
or less so with that in mind you have to reenforce the tagges
with a little more than a couple of layers of glass. From your pictures put 2 layers of six oz. both sides, with gun roving’s down the leading edge.
To fix the problem of tag strength get a 1mm drill bit, some aluminium pop rivet’s ‘‘best for weight reduction’’ , than
drill from the bottom of the tag, up into the tag about 10 to 15 mm. Than strip the aluminium rod of the rivet,cut to length
than put up into the tag and seal with some resin.
Hope this help’s you Rod FINFEKTION FINS…
Lots of good stuff here. I’ll get pics up as soon as I figure out how to post them (yep, I’m a little slow at this.)
So far no worries with the FCS plugs and keel-style fins. I do usually reinforce my plugs pretty heavily, though, and that may help. The walls of the slightly oversized hole get two layers of 4oz with lam resin before setting the plug with the resin/chopped glass mix. Doing it this way I’ve never even had a stress crack on my plugs, including longboard side fins when used in pretty solid 5 to 6 foot stuff. Maybe just luck.
Anyone else have pics of fins in this style?
Anyone else have pics of fins in this style?
Yep, see " fin photos" thread…
ben
[ I think it will be added to from time to time , also]
p.s. - Anyone who does 'em …Bert, Halcyon, Lokbox ?? Please add your “fcs wood fin” photos , if you have any. I always want to see and learn from the more experienced. (Thanks, guys !)
I’m eagerly watching this thread for and tidbits of useful info. I made a set of wood fins based on the template that Blakestah posted a while ago in the fin theory thread for his swivel base and also copied my favorite set of fins.
I finally got around to glassing the blakestah fin with two layers of 6 oz. on each side and hotcoated it. I still have to sand it though. I only glassed one fin to start with to try and figure out the whole process and it’s a good thing, because I didn’t undersize the fin tabs and with two layers of 6 oz. they grew a fair amount. It looks like it will be a pain to sand those tabs as well.
jeffrey, can you offer any insight on how you’re molding your plugs? What are you doing about the grub screw hole? And what are you using for mold release? That seems like the way to go. Just glass the fin, then mix up some chopped strand and resin and stick the undersized fin tabs into the FCS plugs themselves.
I LOVE seeing people’s photos of what they’ve made… great stuff !
…if I’d had a computer and knew about you guys before , I would have learnt heaps of helpful stuff a LOT earlier… [STOKED to be here NOW, that’s for sure !!]
ben
… NICE !!
please tell me about your technique for strengthening the tabs, Paul…are they moulded ?
cheers !
'chippy'
What it looks like…The tabs are wood core, with fiberglass build ups…
WOW,something ive been pondering for ages…can fcs be made of wood AND work?
being an aeromodeler i have plenty of sheet balsa…so i can now try the thick full foil fins,balsa core,2lams of 4oz either side with balsa cheeks covered by a single layer of 4oz.
Q: how thick is too thick for a fin?