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If you could scan a board to that degree of accuracy (less than human hair accuracy), then a board shape can basically be totally mapped with a scanner (except for centre of gravity).

It makes possible a global database of every board ever made with rider opinions. Running queries across the shapes could open up an entire new way of designing boards - as a user you could pick attributes from different boards or pick up a shape that you liked and tweak it.

Then supposing materials science allows the printer to make a board that is strong and light enough.... this might not be so far fetched in ten years time- the guys in 2011 video below are making a wrench out of composites here. It looks like 3d printers could drive composite technology quite a long way.... or maybe they'd just shape blanks. Either way, 3d printers run on really small production runs (like windsurfing boards) so the manufacturers could start using them.

Has anyone 3d printed a board?

ginger pom said...


this might not be so far fetched in ten years time

In ten years time we'll probably watch that (about 3yo now) video and think "how primitive"

I doubt that we will beat current cnc production methods for some time but the scanning technology will surely evolve.

keef said...
brilliant I also imagine they will have a 3d printer making the 3d printer, and 3d robots operating the 3d printers , I can imagine where we will be in 10 years time well we wont have to worry about it here in Australia because we dont manufacture anything

Back to the point, does anyone know whether the 3d scanners are commercially available?

There are different types of 3d printers commercially available. Some are small and need to be assembled from a kit. Some like the Z printers are about as big as a old juke box and cost about $50k.

I'd imagine a 3d printer big enough to print a board would have to be huge and would cost a fortune.

Been watching 3d printing with a bit of interest, hoping to get a cad program for a fin and send the cad to a 3d printer for a split mould. I'm guessing the split mould could be anything from a solid plastic to a semi rigid silicone. I have been told it's a tad expensive though? I'd like to know what they mean by expensive!

i do some work for a company that has a 3d printer, they showed me a component produced from it for prototyping purposes and i didn't realize it was a mock up until they told me.

on the board front.

there is a guy in caloundra that can scan boards into cad format. he can also cut blanks. nxs sailboards have their board blanks cnc milled at the guys factory. still need hand finishing.

my boards have been scanned there.

albentley said...
not sure why people think you need to scan the boards, there are loads of free software packages which allow you to model boards in 3D. This represents the board as a collection of simple curves not a load of points (how laser scanning works), even if you wanted to copy a board, you would be better off just inputting the dimensions into one of these programs.

no doubt one will, or probably already can, print a board. But if you wanted a composite construction, some kind of fibers in resin (not the composite mentioned in the video..), I think 3D printers are a long way off.

You could also argue that its quite inefficient to print such a high volume of bulk material, such as EPS foam. Basically I think its possible to print a 3D board, but with a different construction.

you scan a board which is a prototype so you can have almost exact copies.

the prototype board is designed in a 3d design package, from that, plywood templates are cut, from those templates the foam is cut and then hand shaped.

you go back and forth between the computer and the shaping room until a design that works is formulated.

then get it scanned so all future version match.

not all 3d design packages can output data suitable for custom made cnc machines. so scanning becomes inportant as it allows the cnc machine to take a copy in the right language.

plus there are subtlties the shaper can put into the prototypes that some 3d design packages can't handle as the tweaks are to fine.

This is a Nurbs surface model. Model accurate to .0001mm so I think no problem getting all the required detail



Can be output into multiple file types. Depending on the operating system of the CNC they can run off nurbs surface or if not you can output an SDL file. The problem with SDL is the file size, this in native form is about 600K the high resolution SDL would be 100 meg.
Stuart Truscott at Cheeky Monkey Boards has been cutting the blanks off my files converted to Igs format no probs on his home built CNC.

Yep, realise that.
I have had a play with some of the free download board softwares. They are adequate, a bit hard to do the nose and tail properly and forget anything like complex tail cutouts but for somebody who wants to mess around a bit they are fine.
Getting back to 3D printing, not sure we will see a board done this way for a long time. Boards are made with varied density materials and you need to be able to place fibres in the correct orientation, in the correct spot, vary fibre layer thickness and type.
For the time being CNC machined blanks, rocker jigs and/or moulds created from CAD files is about as high tech as we can expect.
Ginger, for somebody like me who farts around with board design I would love to access information on every board built, would be very interesting. Impossible to just look at a board scan file though and say "that works because of that", design is always a complex thing, multiple factors effecting performance and always a compromise, making it good at one thing always makes it not as good at something else.
Not sure the OEMs will be offering up their IP, the result of hard work and huge investment any day soon though, nor should they!!!

If it breaks you wont need new parts? You cant undo it.

swoosh said...
Most board manufacturers would have a database similar to being discussed. If you go to a custom manufacturer to build you a board, I guess you are essentially buying their service to peruse their database, and build you a board based on this knowledge. They aren't any more expensive than production boards, and most of them have pretty short lead times, so not really sure what sort of problem we are trying to solve here with the 3D printing.

Gotta agree with mr. love about the materials side of things. Thou, they are using computer controlled placement of fibre rovings on high tech sails (North 3DL / Avanti), it would be within current tech to do the same on boards, whether or not it makes economical sense i'm not sure.

Gestalt, something like Rhino3D would be a good investment

noooooo...... please don't make me learn another 3d cad package...

boardcad's not too bad. it does everything except cutouts as mr love pointed out. i've managed to get it to do concaves, steps, accurate rails, subtle rockers etc. just not cutouts. not sure where the latest version is at.

the guy up our way has a very sweet cnc setup and the software to go with it. i think he does mainly sups but has a fairly solid history in the windsurfing industry.

i am surprised more people don't design their own boards.

Justin, the dilemma of the modern designer. Chose the career as I enjoyed and was good at drawing s..t and ended up having to be a IT expert. I used to get ink on my fingers now I just get my nu.ts fried by electrons!!!

I'm learning Rhino at the moment, it's pretty good for some stuff, but can be a pain when it comes to lofting complex shapes, or closing your polysurfaces into a solid. For example I had to start a wing from scratch because one of my starting wing profile shapes (given to me) was open by .0002mm.

Re 3D printing - the materials are quite expensive at moment. No way you'd do a whole windsurf board. It's perfect for complex 3d shapes of a size you can hold in 1 hand.

Re point clouds - laser scanning can be amazing - ie I've seen where you can read "flat" signs due to slight embossing or sticker width. But the commercial guys I've talked to have a large team of cad monkeys in indo or phillipines that essentially trace everything to create your shapes from the points. Your final accuracy will only be as good as their tracing skills.

If you google autocad 123catch they have a cloud based thing where they'll make a 3D object for you from photos... worth a look.