monofin rubber???

[monkeyhatfork]

Does anyone have any technical data or any info at all on the rubber used to make mono pockets. I know different brands use different rubber and some use different stiffnesses within the pocket i.e. bottom/top. I'm trying to figure out the logistics of making my oun pockets, my brother is a sculptor and super skilled at making molds so we are thinking of trying to make pockets cast straight off our feet for a perfect vacume fit. Basically everthing is figured out but this important peice of info. Any suggestions would be great.

-think leaderfins/ww/specialfins would give this up - or industry secret type deal ?

 

[Bill]

I'm very interested in how this turns out. A friend made pockets by hand from sheet rubber and it worked OK. I decided to use Beuchat pockets (they fit well) and that's good. Next time, I decided, I will cut the blades off Voit fins and use that. Would be great to mold a pocket that was a perfect fit.
Off subject a little, the new Mustangs have the most comfortable foot pocket I've ever worn, on the left foot.

 

[monkeyhatfork]

This project will take a while, but I'll document the process and post a step by step when its done.

I should also specify that the interest is in making open heal pockets

the knowledge of how to make them is all there, what's lacking is a knowledge of the specific rubber or at least something similar.

 

[monkeyhatfork]

also there is the compressable vs. non compressable issue

 

[sciencemike]

I myself have been looking into making whole monofins out of polyurethane rubber. I have been reading up on patents for fins and it seems they all want to be as vague as possible and leave it at polyurethane to make it so no one can skate around their patents. Heres some info i have ...

For the fin pocket use soft polyurethane 10-25 in hardness..(PMC-121/30)

For the more rigid part use 60-80 hardness....(maybe PMC-870)

My plan was to cast my foot to make a replica of my foot. Then make a small mold around that to cast soft rubber into. Then place that whole soft rubber into the fin mold and cast the remainder as the fin. As for the pourable rubber, poke around "liquid Rubber" online for some short descriptions of their polyurethanes. I would recommend e mailing them to bug them, im sure they know what fin manufacturers are using. Thats my plan anyways. Im no expert on plastics/rubbers, but i have been reading up on it so please dont take my word as gold.

 

[monkeyhatfork]

thanks for the info this will at least get me off to a start, my sister works at a pharmacutical company that has a rubber/plastics division so I'm gonna see if I can get some of thier stuff to play around with as well.