This might make board manufacture different in the future
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/9550469.stm
Even if the construction is never right for sailing, it would seem to be a more physical way of viewing shapes than looking at them in CAD
Nothing can really compete with cnc cutting of a foam blank for large product visualisation - it is fast, cheap and full scale. The blank is exactly what is modelled in the cad software (if you dont use sandwich offsets) and the stepover can be minimised to give a smoother appearance off of the machine if required.
All rapid proto methods would be hideously expensive(for a board) if done 1:1 not to mention the cost of a machine to create models 2.5m long. They are however being used a lot more than 10 years ago so they might be comparable to machined foam in the future, would be great if they developed the reinforced engineering plastics rather than just those used in consumer injection moulded products then you might be able to sail the design.
Barn,
Well, if in the case of my boards which have been CAD designed, I can think of quite a few reasons why you would CNC the blank rather than hand shape.
Hand shaping requires templates. You have to cut sections through your model, print full size on film and then make the templates. Time and cost and you need access to a plotter and also scope for inaccuarcy during this process..
These are not required if you CNC except for a template for the rocker jig and maybe a few small templates for final rail shaping.
Then there is the shaping time. If it were my choice I would rather let a machine do the grunt work while I went sailing rather than spending 15+ hours making templates and hand shaping. Obviously for some people the hand shaping will be the most enjoyable part, thats a personal choice.
If the cutter paths are done properly with a small stepover there should be minimal hand finishing required before Vacc baging.
And last from a designers point of view I know I am getting what I designed rather than a shapers interpretation. Obviously that depends on the shaper and my experience with hand shaping from drawings off my CAD files has been good, but machines don't interpret, they generate exactly the information they are given.
I agree with Keefs comments regarding distortion while Vacc baging, but that is also going to happen on a hand shaped blank if the vacc baging process is badly done, certainly not a reason not to CNC cut.
So it,s a personal choice whether to handshape or CNC, but for somebody like me who designs their boards on computer and does not build their own boards I feel much happier with a CNC blank that I know is 99.9% exactly what I created including all of my mistakes.
Absolutely, hey shaping can really be the fun bit, I just don't have the time or a patient enough Wife
and as I design on CAD it sort of makes sense to get Stuart to build them as he can CNC and does an excellent job.
