After a friend of mine broke the news to me that he had just bought a Flysurfer Speed 3 15m kite I checked out their website and came across an arty video of the board making facilities.
Note the appearance of that damn pneumatic press.. How do they do it without getting dry spots??
http://www.flysurfer.com/produkte/boards/
Couple of interesting things:
i) 90 psi pneumatic press
ii) wet layup and not pre-preg like I thought might have been used for the high pressure clamping
iii) screen printing the topsheet and not dye-sublimation printing like the other production board companies info that I've come across
iv) plastic tips covering most of the end of the boards - according to the commentary its to give the tip loads of flex 'for rider comfort and control'..
v) appear to be using superglue to stick the rails on. I remember using a gel type super glue one when making a model aeroplane. It helped prevent the glue being sucked into the wood and away from the join and also helped it bridge any gaps which the normal superglue (cyano-acrylics) would drip through.
vi) use a heat gun to heat treat the rails or maybe it is to accelerate the curing of the glue they are using.
Check out the video on the light wind board. Asymmetrical outline and negative heal-side rail. In the video they say that the negative rail helps take some of the pressure of the rail and allows you to put it over the tip and tail. Presumable to allow you to get the fins deeper in the water. 'Help you ride the fins more than the rails'... Why is this a good thing?
Hi matt about the last thing, i think that like in boards made for race (with large fins) you can ride the board flat and hold the edge only with the fins. when the board ride flat i think you have the less drag possible so you need less power or get more velocity. If you can get the fins work better by that outline could be a good idea, but i dont know how it will perform in other than flat water.. just thinking outloud (what a lack of english i have) byee
ReplyDeleteHey Jorge
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear from you! Was wondering how you wer doing. Hope all is well.
I think you're right about riding the fins. One of their light wind boards (can't remember which one exactly) inlcudes a 3rd fin right in the middle near the heal-side rail. So I'm guessing that they get early planning out of the area of the board and then upwind ability out of the fins.
I wonder if you get lots of water flowing up through the negative rail and over the trailing healside edge. Maybe the big width means that it doesn't hit your foot so maybe its not a problem.
Our wind season is just start up here and have had a few good sessions. Bought a 10 RPM and am picking it up today!!!!!
You been getting out?
great video.
ReplyDeleteYou know , it's more than likely the same factory that make the anti G boards and a few of the other big name boards in Taiwan or in the same precinct.
peter