Home made hydrofoil
Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2017 6:16 pm
I did this with my CNC machine. Made molds out of PVC plastic wood, then made the molds out of carbon.
I have been at this quite a while, and here are some of the things I have learned:
Don't mess around with complicated shapes for the joints. Flat surfaces to flat surfaces work best.
A longer fuselage is more stable. My latest one is about 75cm.
A convex board deck sucks, makes turning hard. Make it flat or concave. The board I have now used to be a windsurfer. I will be building a new one.
Ad an aluminum plate anywhere that you drill mounting holes, even the ones that are not threaded. Screws can pull through carbon composites.
Pressure from screws can compress wood, especially under the pressures of a hydrofoil. A wood core fuselage should have a lot of reinforcement where you have any screws, and no wood at all where it can be compressed by the screws.
I have been at this quite a while, and here are some of the things I have learned:
Don't mess around with complicated shapes for the joints. Flat surfaces to flat surfaces work best.
A longer fuselage is more stable. My latest one is about 75cm.
A convex board deck sucks, makes turning hard. Make it flat or concave. The board I have now used to be a windsurfer. I will be building a new one.
Ad an aluminum plate anywhere that you drill mounting holes, even the ones that are not threaded. Screws can pull through carbon composites.
Pressure from screws can compress wood, especially under the pressures of a hydrofoil. A wood core fuselage should have a lot of reinforcement where you have any screws, and no wood at all where it can be compressed by the screws.