Clear Fins - Anyone tried Lexan for blades?(homemade, DIY)

[firegypsy]

Hey everyone! So I am not a pro or anything here. I am a mermaid(profile picture is SO old, please ignore it). I know people have made monofins successfully with Lexan, but has anyone tried using it for diving fins?

I am looking for the cheapest foot pockets out there (any suggestions would be greatly appreciated) to test this out with. What is the best method of adhering a polycarbonate sheet to the foot pockets?

Thanks guys!

 

[Lyell]

Looking for anyone who has tried this too. My plan is to use cycling shoes bolted to a bent aluminum frame and then bolt the Polycarbonate blade to that.. Shipping to Canada has put every mono fin I have looked at out of my price range except for the plastic ones on amazon.

 

[cdavis]

Lexan that is sufficiently thin will work, just not very well. Lexan would break very easily if its thin enough to be used as a fin blade. Unless you can grind it into a taper, even thin lexan won't bend properly to be a good fin blade.

5200 should work to join the lexan to a foot pocket. Works fine with fiberglass. You might want to check what 5200 will stick to.

 

[Lyell]

Lexan that is sufficiently thin will work, just not very well. Lexan would break very easily if its thin enough to be used as a fin blade. Unless you can grind it into a taper, even thin lexan won't bend properly to be a good fin blade.
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Thanks for the tips. So I should look into laminating up a fiberglass sheet or something. That or try to add a hinge and rubber-belt as a spring.. Thats getting a little too complicated. Not trying to re-invent the thing, just would like one in Canada that A. Doesnt cost 1000 dollars and B. has freedive angle. All the affordable ones are the flat finswimming type.

 

[cdavis]

Not quite sure I follow. Most fiberglass blades have an angle, might not be enough, but thats a matter of opinion. Think about plastic blades. There is not much performance difference relative to carbon or fiberglass and most have at least a little angle, and they are cheap.


The dolfin Orca does cost $1000+ and represent years and years of testing and refining prototypes, a huge amount of time and money. It is pricy, but not in relation to what it cost to develop. Performance ain't bad either. Its pretty hard to build your own that works nearly as well as what you can buy, usually for a good bit less than it will cost you to develop something.

 

[Lyell]

Not quite sure I follow. Most fiberglass blades have an angle, might not be enough, but thats a matter of opinion. Think about plastic blades. There is not much performance difference relative to carbon or fiberglass and most have at least a little angle, and they are cheap.


The dolfin Orca does cost $1000+ and represent years and years of testing and refining prototypes, a huge amount of time and money. It is pricy, but not in relation to what it cost to develop. Performance ain't bad either. Its pretty hard to build your own that works nearly as well as what you can buy, usually for a good bit less than it will cost you to develop something.

Oops I messed up the code and typed in your quote.

Plastic blade Leaderfin from Freediver Shop price is not bad but shipping to Canada would cost me about half of the price again on top. There are a few on amazon that will ship free but I wouldn't want to spend that much on something with flat angle ("finis rapid" and "finis competitor") Those are for speed swimmers right. That was me years ago but now I would rather the kick kick glide type.

Taking a trip to Oregon in a week, was browsing but couldn't find any shops that look like they stock good ones...

 

[cdavis]

Ahh, just realized you are talking about a mono only, What exactly are you looking to do with the fin? Open water general freediving? competition? depth? Spearfishing? How much experiance do you have with mono's, longfins?

 

[Lyell]

Ahh, just realized you are talking about a mono only, What exactly are you looking to do with the fin? Open water general freediving? competition? depth? Spearfishing? How much experiance do you have with mono's, longfins?

Sorry to the Mermaid who's old thread I hijacked.

I would use the Mono for open general freediving, some depth and DYN in the pool.
I have been using longfins for a year. Love them, but I find the dolphin kick very relaxing.