Contact   Imprint   Advertising   Guidelines

What happened to DIY

Here you can exchange your experience and datas about your home build boards
wil
Medium Poster
Posts: 66
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2011 1:45 am
Local Beach: Raglan, Tauranga New Zealand
Favorite Beaches: Aitutaki
Style: free ride
Gear: Switch Kites and Decay boards, Naish Venturi, NJS CF6, Makaira Zeeko foil, Home made foil Clearwater creations wings
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

What happened to DIY

Postby wil » Mon Sep 14, 2015 10:27 pm

What happened to topics about self builds. It looks like everyone is now only interested in sharing experiences about new products. I would love to see some more extreme home build foils and boards and especially see them in action on the water.

User avatar
Hawaiis
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 1375
Joined: Wed Aug 24, 2011 11:39 am
Local Beach: Kailua
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 10 times
Been thanked: 2 times

Re: What happened to DIY

Postby Hawaiis » Mon Sep 14, 2015 11:19 pm

The price has come down, it is actually cheaper to buy mass produced foil than to make your own.

tahoedirk
Frequent Poster
Posts: 219
Joined: Sun Aug 31, 2014 5:02 pm
Local Beach: Kings beach, CA
Favorite Beaches: All clean beaches
Style: out of control
Gear: Homemade gear
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: What happened to DIY

Postby tahoedirk » Tue Sep 15, 2015 5:09 am

Great question wil.

I have been disappointed that my recent DIY posts have seen very few responses, especially technical ones. Must be prices, hmmmm. I'm pretty sure the french are still into sharing their DIY experiences . Maybe that's why they're kicking ass!

I did get to try my latest ride today. Now that I am know the difference , I quickly decided to put one more degree of up on the rear stabilizer. Aaaahhhhhh!

Dirk

bigcane
Medium Poster
Posts: 110
Joined: Sat Oct 02, 2004 3:00 am
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 3 times

Re: What happened to DIY

Postby bigcane » Tue Sep 15, 2015 9:43 am

Agreed, unless you already have the tools and vacuum pump, etc then it seems cheaper to buy an entry level foil especially if you buy used. I have no regrets with my homebuild wood core foil though, its lightweight, easy to ride, stable but still fast enough to be fun. I am planning to build another one this winter and apply the learnings from the first build. The stiffness and the quality of profile of the mast will be the focus. I am also considering to bond everything permanently together except the tail wing as i don't plan to travel with it. I am thinking this will make it stronger, easier to build and also more streamlined/faster. Anyone else done this? What are the downsides?

https://vimeo.com/134895729

User avatar
bay surfer
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 960
Joined: Tue Dec 23, 2003 6:30 pm
Local Beach: The Dam Beach
Favorite Beaches: Lake Michigan Beaches, OBX
Gear: Airush, Switch, Pansh, Kites, LF boards, Home Brewed Foils and boards
Brand Affiliation: None
Location: Traverse City, MI usa
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 15 times

Re: What happened to DIY

Postby bay surfer » Tue Sep 15, 2015 2:36 pm

You really don't need a lot of tools to make wings, but you need forms or jigs, made my wings with 4 pieces of 3mm ply cut with a jigsaw, with 3 layers of glass between, pressed on a jig clamps or you could use Screws, to get Anhedral, then routered in another jig to get the profile. Carbon fiber on the outside, used a small Clothes Vacuum bag and a shopvac for the vacuum, works perfect for small parts suck the air out, close and let sit note have to have some volume in the bag, rags towels to maintain the vacuum. I can bounce on the wings they won't break, plus I made 2 sets of wings, one low aspect and one mid.
Base and fuselage Aluminum, you do need need a drill press! Bought a LF fish 300$ and a mast 150$ and between epoxy, fiber and drill bits, total was less than 600$. Thats 1/3 the price of board and wings.

Flyfish
Frequent Poster
Posts: 259
Joined: Wed May 23, 2012 2:27 pm
Kiting since: 2000
Local Beach: Nor Cal
Style: Wave
Gear: Flysurfer
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 17 times
Been thanked: 30 times

Re: What happened to DIY

Postby Flyfish » Tue Sep 15, 2015 3:46 pm

I have a couple hundred bucks in my DIY including the board. I used G10 wings, no carbon fiber. Super simple. Seems to work for me.
Most people just like buying the new thing though.

revhed
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 1373
Joined: Sun Feb 24, 2008 6:15 pm
Local Beach: france
Gear: kites
Location: France
Has thanked: 106 times
Been thanked: 34 times

Re: What happened to DIY

Postby revhed » Tue Sep 15, 2015 6:03 pm

Hawaiis wrote: it is actually cheaper to buy mass produced foil than to make your own.
Simply not true! Another ignorant statement from the well known source of such.
D I Yers pay no attention!
Plus the satisfaction of flying your own build and design is great!
We are now using almost always 1,000 g/m2 quadri cutoffs that we have a great low cost source.
About 15 E m/2.
Epoxy at 35 E Kilo.
Strut, core, with 3 layers quadri each side
wings, core, 3 layers quadri and some uni
fuse, carbon fabrick tubes, normal and bibias, 20 E
Latest boards are xtruded closed cell polystyrene at 5 E.
300 g/m2 top and bottom with quadri reinforce at plate connection, thru core anti crush tubes, and 2 X 150 g/m2 x 8cm on the rails.
Latest pocket board (120 x 46 x 2 cm) cost less than 80 E. Also weighs only about 2.4 K
Latest T bar less than 200 E
No where near the cheapest mass produced out there even counting ones time to make!
TT flown a little, very sensitive to the point of almost no fun and damn I HATE my feet in straps!!
A winter project will be to "form fit" side foot hooks.
As for less replys during the warm season, we fly A LOT so less computer time and building, getting cooler and workshop ready for winter projects.....
@ T D, your work looks great! wish we were closer so we could share in person, come to visit!
Good wine and cheese here.
R H

User avatar
Starsky
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 4373
Joined: Mon Apr 19, 2004 12:12 pm
Brand Affiliation: None
Location: Ontario
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 3 times

Re: What happened to DIY

Postby Starsky » Tue Sep 15, 2015 7:28 pm

I totally applaud the DIY foilers, I think its one of the coolest things to DIY, but I did get into it for 665 euros (free shipping) + some west system for a mount in a board I already owned. There was another $100 CDN in duty once it landed but I can't find a better deal on such a sure thing. ie. a pretty simple/durable fast and fun 3rd gen foil from the company with the longest track record in the sport.

faklord
Frequent Poster
Posts: 474
Joined: Sun Jan 09, 2011 6:03 pm
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 35 times
Been thanked: 80 times

Re: What happened to DIY

Postby faklord » Tue Sep 15, 2015 9:23 pm

@RH
My 1st attempts ended up a bit flexi. Mainly in the mast/fuse connection I think.

However, I'm interested:
"Strut, core, with 3 layers quadri each side
wings, core, 3 layers quadri and some uni"
Surely the strut has to be stiffer than the wings? I would have thought the uni should be in the strut and prob not needed in wings unless they are very high aspect ratio?

"fuse, carbon fabrick tubes, normal and bibias, 20 E"
Would you care to share your source for these and what size you recommend (diameter & wall thickness)?

Thanks

User avatar
lieutenantglorp
Medium Poster
Posts: 169
Joined: Sat Mar 01, 2008 7:19 am
Gear: Any
Brand Affiliation: None
Location: San Mateo, CA USA
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: What happened to DIY

Postby lieutenantglorp » Tue Sep 15, 2015 9:25 pm

revhed wrote: A winter project will be to "form fit" side foot hooks.
R H
Me too, but I hope to be riding them before winter :-) I have finished with my design based off the NSI and am now designing the molds to be 3d printed. I will vacuum down some layers over the molds and am going to try resin infusion method to solidify them. Finish them off by wrapping in deck pad foam and rivet to base plate:-)


Return to “Gear Builders”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 49 guests