Wake foil build

[giroux68]

I have the Clearwater foil kit.
Total boat epoxy kit from amazon
4 Oz fiberglass from ebay.

Just made a small batch of epoxy to test out glassing a small piece of foam.
I'm also building a SUP board at the same time. I'll post what I photo and video.

Built a foam cutter from an old analog battery charger and some stainless steel safety wire. The board for the foil I'm going to make from xps pink foam too. With mount holes to match the slingshot I have.

 

[giroux68]

3 layers on the rear wing. Cure time while I'm at work for a few days. Then figure out how to trim the excess off.

 

[2kwik4u]

Subscribed!

Do you have any previous fiberglass experience? Any training/knowledge other than youtube/Internet searching?

I want to do this exact same thing, but have ZERO experience with fiberglass or the like.

 

[swatski]

3 layers on the rear wing. Cure time while I'm at work for a few days. Then figure out how to trim the excess off.

I don't know...
I'm not an expert, but have done a few things with fiberglass. The way this is going.... the leading edge of the blade may be prone to split an de-laminate, after you trim the edge. I would probably go around with single layers etc., to wrap around the leading edge, before sanding and finishing.

Just another thought, looking at this kit... I can't help but think... once you have those parts/templates it's an easy 3D print project. Scanning those parts - to print - since those are not very large. After that, just an assembly.

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[giroux68]

No experience before yesterday. It seems pretty easy so far, but we'll see what it looks like when I'm done.

 

[giroux68]

I was thinking the same thing on the leading edge.

I don't have a 3d printer yet. More money to spend. But I bet that would do it well. How strong are the printed parts? The parts look like they were done with a CNC machine and hand sanded.

 

[swatski]

I was thinking the same thing on the leading edge.

I don't have a 3d printer yet. More money to spend. But I bet that would do it well. The parts look like they were done with a CNC machine and hand sanded.

Oh, I was just thinking of using one of those 3D printing hub sites, some of those projects are super cheap to do. I don't have any first hand experience, but once you have the exact parts that can be scanned - the rest is trivial.

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[zipper]

I don't know...
I'm not an expert, but have done a few things with fiberglass. The way this is going.... the leading edge of the blade may be prone to split an de-laminate, after you trim the edge. I would probably go around with single layers etc., to wrap around the leading edge, before sanding and finishing.

Just another thought, looking at this kit... I can't help but think... once you have those parts/templates it's an easy 3D print project. Scanning those parts - to print - since those are not very large. After that, just an assembly.

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I my past experience of laying up fiberglass, my childhood/teenage years following my father around his garage as he made molds for boats and dune buggy bodies and then hand laid glass to make a final product cast from those molds. Ahhhh, the smell of fiberglass resin in the morning, that runs thru the house after a night of laying up glass mat. I agree with @swatski about wrapping around the edges and overlapping both sides. It will prevent the two surfaces from coming apart on the edge, with all the stresses involved during use. You can fair the edge/surfaces with epoxy and sanding after. Just my $.02.

 

[giroux68]

Here is the top of the rear wing. Seem like it need a bit more resin in spots. You can see/feel the glass texture on it. Over all, I think it came out ok. On to the other side.

 

[giroux68]

Both side of the rear wing are glassed. Fuselage bottom and front wing have 4 layers of glass. The hard part I'm finding, is when to stop messing with it and let it set. But there in lies hard part of any art.

 

[giroux68]

Main wing and body have glass on both sides. Measured the mounting plate to fit borh the slingshot board and the home made board. Need some more research on putting nuts into the epoxy for mounting. Going pretty smoothly so far.

 

[Speedling]

This.... could be awesome even if an experiment!

 

[giroux68]

Trimmed up the wing and body. Sanded all the parts. I have to assembly bit now.
The big ugly spot is a knot in the wood.
Second shot is the leading edge of the main foil

 

[haknslash]

I have 3D printer and experience. You're going to need a printer that uses a carbon fiber with nylon if you want a super strong part (not cheap). I can laser scan and produce the 3D model as well.

 

[giroux68]

The mast is attached to the fuselage. 8 layers a side.

 

[giroux68]

I marked along the center of the fuselage to line up the leading edge of the mast. Duct tape to hold upright and plumb. Pretty soaked the glass and used the fibers he sells on his site. Hopefully I'll have this done by the end of the month. the water is warming up fast.

 

[2kwik4u]

I have 3D printer and experience. You're going to need a printer that uses a carbon fiber with nylon if you want a super strong part (not cheap). I can laser scan and produce the 3D model as well.

I have access to a CNC machine, and the toolpathing software if you can get a 3D model. We can machine from any number of materials. Aluminum being the easiest, but some UHMW might work as well. Could also possibly machine the wood itself from something with a high strength maybe? Perhaps just a laminated setup of plywood? Material experimentation is easy once we have a model and tool pathing.

 

[giroux68]

That would work with a removable wing. You could have multiple wings for different styles

 

[giroux68]

Wing to mast is curing now. 2 more parts to go. Rear wing and plate to mast.

 

[giroux68]

Down to the mounting plate at the top of the mast to go. Holy crap this is going to be tall. Anyone have a good idea on full cure on the epoxy before I give this thing a go?
There are a few spots on the trailing edges that need more epoxy and glass. I'm also going to put 3 or 4 more pieces around the fuselage up the mast. A little more sanding and off to paint.