DIY Diving fins

[l_smircic]

Anyone tried ? I was thinking of making fiberglass bi fins, and was trying to find something about it on internet, but was unable. Is it possible that no one tried it ?

[Kars]

Waterway and other monofinbuilders like Hyperfins, Leaderfins offer those fins.

[l_smircic]

Originally Posted by Kars

Waterway and other monofinbuilders like Hyperfins, Leaderfins offer those fins.

And many more, but thats not what I asked. I want to make them myself.
I saw that there are a lot of DIY Monofins on forum, and there are also Waterway monofins available. Any help is welcome.

[Bill]

My experience is in modifying fins only. Many times I have planned to build them but from what has been done, it's very easy to spend more money than good new fins cost and even easier to make something useless. Making a fin fit better, more comfortable or out of used/broken parts has worked well.
I do wonder what a blade cut from fiber board, tapered with sand paper, strengthened with glass or carbon and with a foot pocket molded to the bottom of the foot would be like. With the price of the Mustangs, it couldn't possibly cost more (not counting labor). Could it?
Good luck and I'd like to hear about it.

[nostres]

Originally Posted by l_smircic

Anyone tried ? I was thinking of making fiberglass bi fins, and was trying to find something about it on internet, but was unable. Is it possible that no one tried it ?

I tried it and I don't recommend it, it's not worth it. However I was interrested in monofins rather than bi-fins it makes even more sense not to because bi-fins are cheaper. I bought carbon fiber (expensive)
After few designs and experiments... well, long story short - buy some fins, it's not so easy to make them as it may seem and not so cheap anyway. Very few guys who make fins were in this field for long time, they do it full time, have experience, right materials and tools. They also know all the little tricks like angles, shapes, etc. But if You have time and You like experiments, well, it's Your call

Good luck eitherway

[trux]

Yes, I second Bill and Nostres: you will likely spend more in material and time than by ordering a pair from experts. However, if you do not mind it, just go ahead. A friend in our club tested his DIY carbon fins these two last weeks in the pool.

It was very easily and quickly done - he had a lot of carbon sheets because he works in a snowboard workshop, so he just cut two blades from it and put them into common foot-pockets. Of course, they were just straight blades, without any angle that is common at most commercial fins. That is not necessarily a problem if you do not do a lot of surface swimming, though. The problem was that the thickness of the blade (and hence the stiffness) was not sufficient for the guy (he is over 2m tall), so he decided to add another layer of carbon fiber. I saw him then swimming with the doubled blades and I could not stop laughing. It was as if he had two plywood boards attached to his feet. He forced with full power but remained pinned on the spot, forwarding just a few centimeters per second Well, he still needs to fine-tune it little bit more. So as told - it is certainly possible, but be ready to experiment a lot.

[Pastor]

Originally Posted by Bill

I do wonder what a blade cut from fiber board, tapered with sand paper, strengthened with glass or carbon and with a foot pocket molded to the bottom of the foot would be like. With the price of the Mustangs, it couldn't possibly cost more (not counting labor). Could it?
Good luck and I'd like to hear about it.

I totally agree! Most of the better gear we use comes from manufactures who just started to fiddle about and make their own bits. If someone asked how to make their own suit we would all say "go buy an Elios" but isn't that how they started? l_smircic I don't have the first clue how to go about making fins but I wish you well and I would love to hear about it, who knows one day we may all be recommending your fins at the benchmark to which all others aspire

[l_smircic]

I do have a clue how to do it,but I'm looking for some of the people that already tried it, so I could avoid some of the mistakes that made.
I'd like to experiment a little with fiberglass, and later maybe try to build carbon blade. The reason is that fiberglass is a lot more cheaper. I think that 1 blade can be made for around 10-15 US dollars. All you need is couple of layers of fiberglass(maybe 3 , maybe 15 that I dont know,and also it depends on g/m2) and a little bit of epoxy(now here is a trick, cause I need to find flexibile epoxy, cause their usual elongation is around 2-3 %,and i think i need a lot more), then you vacuum bag it and you have your fins. This is probably not the best way to do it, but I know that OMER is making their fins in autoclave, which is not so much different than this procedure.

[SnuFPunK]

hmm.
I was thinking about making fins as well, how ever actually ended up spending WAY too much money, so i just dumped the project and bought fins.

Just FYI, about layering glass fiber, I know Water Way use some very heavy machinery in order to layer glass fiber, they actually flatten each layer to around 100 micron, and then press glue them together, that means that in 2mm of a blade, you get 20 layers.

~ Snuf

[l_smircic]

Now when you mentioned it, can you measure ,if you have waterway fin, the thickness of it ? Can someone else do it just to have info on different fins about they thickness. Thanks

[SnuFPunK]

My O.ME.R Bat 30 are 4mm thick all the way, my waterway #2 are around 1mm thick at the edge, even less, and the blade gets gradually thicker as you reach the footpocket

[l_smircic]

Originally Posted by SnuFPunK

My O.ME.R Bat 30 are 4mm thick all the way, my waterway #2 are around 1mm thick at the edge, even less, and the blade gets gradually thicker as you reach the footpocket

Thanks SnuFPunK, this design like waterway is what I had in mind. Can you say which one u like better ? I think that this way, having variable thickness(and therefore reactivity) you get better force distribution.

[SnuFPunK]

Definetly the Water Way fin.
Its responsive like no other - and ive got 6 pairs of others

[Lockedin]

20 layers adding up to 4mm. 1-2oz. glass maybe? Very light cloth, with a lot of layers maks sense. But up to 8oz. cloth for a base layer or three might give better snap. It also sounds as though they are vacuum bagging, for optimum absorbtion, and compression. I am considering attempting a blade to fit my OMER footpockets.

BTW, what type of resin are (any of) you using? I am most familiar with polyester resin (from years of glassing surfboards), and can make it quite flexible; but I think that a (REALLY) slow cured epoxy might be the ticket.

[bgill]

I second what Pastor said... Quote: "Most of the better gear we use comes from manufactures who just started to fiddle about and make their own bits. If someone asked how to make their own suit we would all say "go buy an Elios" but isn't that how they started?"

Go for it!