Get this!

[kayu]

... keep in mind that you didn't make the fin whereas I did.

.

No you didn't.....a 3D printing machine made it.....perhaps that's where the problem lies.... I suggest checking you fin bases to make sure they're not too deep.....all off-the shelf fins have similar problems from time to time.

[kayu]

Also , a common problem is test fitting fins (also hand made fins) in a box that's not actually installed in a board , and assuming that it will fit ? .....in any case , altering the fin to suite the board is often required , and not at all uncommon when fins are bought separate from the purchase of the board.

[Roy_Stewart]

Well don't go claiming to have made a board if you use any kind of machine, hand held or otherwise, in future.

As I have already explained ( this time put your brain into gear and comprendez ) the fin was checked for correct fit in two standard fin boxes, as they all are. The problem lies with the board maker.

Every fin which is printed has an identical tab, hundreds have been printed and they are all the same ( they vary only in fore and aft length). No other customer has had a fin sticking up 5mm higher than it should be... the problem, in case you didn't get it the last time, is with the board.

Since you are making a fin for Mr Mik and no doubt will be fitting it 'in house' you will know what brand of board it is.

Here's one such fin fitting into it's box as designed.

[kayu]

Mr Mik has posted that you are also making a gull wing fin for him, I suggest that you do your job and I'll do mine.

I usually make a fin with a slightly oversized base with each McCoy blank. That's so Geoff's fin guy can foil & fit the fin perfectly to the board......no egg on face so far (touch wood)...

[Roy_Stewart]

Also , a common problem is test fitting fins (also hand made fins) in a box that's not actually installed in a board , and assuming that it will fit ? .....in any case , altering the fin to suite the board is often required , and not at all uncommon when fins are bought separate from the purchase of the board.

The fins are all tested in a box which has been installed in a board, and fit correctly. They are all hand finished, strength tested and checked.

Variation between boxes from different manufacturers is only slight...in the order of 0.5mm and slight sanding of the top of the box to fit rocker is of a similar magnitude.

Clearly a 5mm error is huge and is due to poor box installation and grinding off the top of the box, an extremely shoddy practice.

If Mr Mik is unhappy with the fin he is welcome to return it, I'm running low on stock and am having trouble keeping up with demand.

[kayu]

Every fin which is printed has an identical tab, hundreds have been printed and they are all the same

.....and surfboards vary quite a bit.

[Roy_Stewart]

Mr Mik has posted that you are also making a gull wing fin for him, I suggest that you do your job and I'll do mine.

I usually make a fin with a slightly oversized base with each McCoy blank. That's so Geoff's fin guy can foil & fit the fin perfectly to the board......no egg on face so far (touch wood)...

That's nice, the egg I'm referring to is that which you'll get on your face by not minding your own business.

As it happens I found that the glass Gull Wing fin which Mr Mik sent was a sloppy fit from side to side, the other errors in it are confined to the rather 'agricultural' foil which is of the poor quality typical of hand foiled box fins from respected makers ... and have nothing to do with the fit in the box.

[Roy_Stewart]

Every fin which is printed has an identical tab, hundreds have been printed and they are all the same

.....and surfboards vary quite a bit.

We are talking about the fin boxes, which do not... unless some devious and sloppy installer f*cked it up by grinding the top off... of course fins which are hacked out of a 9mm or 10mm panel in 20 minutes with a disc grinder as they typically in the name of 'hand made' have no flange... with this and the bolt tab roughly rounded off to obscure the fact that it sticks up one can look the other way and pretend that all is good, but a precision fin like the Warp Drive Gull Wing will show up any glaringly obvious box installation disasters.

[kayu]

We are talking about the fin boxes, which do not... unless some devious and sloppy installer f*cked it up by grinding the top off... of course fins which are hacked out of a 9mm or 10mm panel in 20 minutes with a disc grinder as they typically in the name of 'hand made' have no flange... with this and the bolt tab roughly rounded off to obscure the fact that it sticks up one can look the other way and pretend that all is good, but a precision fin like the Warp Drive Gull Wing will show up any glaringly obvious box installation disasters.

........(lol).....I see.....maybe fin customers should get you to build them surfboards around your new fins ? ......you could sell them a fin and throw in a board as an accessory ?...

[Roy_Stewart]

The standard boxes; Single fin fcs and futures do very nicely and the fit is excellent.

[8]

Get a room you two

[Roy_Stewart]

Get a room you two

A boxing ring maybe.

[Trev]

23 posts and Mr Mik still hasn't been back on for an update.
I wonder if he's just sitting back with a half smile on his face, watching.

[MrMik]

Maybe he realised he put the fin in upside down!

He most probably figures this is going to need a photo of the ruler in the fin box at this point.

Well, I had a lengthy reply in the works yesterday evening, but then I got thoroughly side tracked into reading various McCoy related threads in several other forums.

This revealed that Kayu and Roy have been arguing quite a bit with each other, and I don't want to add fuel to the fire. Now I know why it takes so long to get a fin or a board from them!

The Gull-Whale fin fits perfectly into a new unused finbox I had lying around.

In the 7''1" Astron Zot, the fillet has a 3.85mm gap, and in the 9'1'' DB Performance Longboard it has a 2.85mm gap. I landed on that fin once, the box has therefore been replaced.
The fin does not fit at all into a GSI Meyerhoffer fin box (cannot get the pin into the groove).

Mik

[kayu]

This revealed that Kayu and Roy have been arguing quite a bit with each other, and I don't want to add fuel to the fire. Now I know why it takes so long to get a fin or a board from them!

....this weekend MrMik !.....your patience has been appreciated...

[MrMik]

I used my lunch break to test-fit the Gull-Whale fin into the best surfboard in the entire world: My 8'0'' Nugget.

The fin fit's perfectly, which adds further indisputable proof that it is indeed the best surfboard in the world. Not even Roy will be able to talk me out of this - luckily the customer is always right, right?

That's why I've asked Geoff and Kayu to make me another board just like it, only better, more durable, more pleasing to the eye. The one I have now was made in 2000 and is still in pretty good shape.

I will start the long-term durability testing program as soon as I get my hands on it, I think must be getting close to being completed.

Fin testing in the waves will have to wait, not enough time at the moment.

I took the Gull-whale fin and the Gullwing fin to the pool yesterday for some experimenting, it was most interesting. Amazing how much force / power / drive (or whatever you call it) the water exerts upon such a small area, even when just moved around by hand at relatively low speeds. A highly recommended exercise.

Both fins feel quite different when moved through the water by hand, but I think this is 99% due to the fact that one sinks, and the other floats. Both can be moved with little effort in a tight figure -8 movement, both draw a very long "bubble tube" from the tip when I move them though a field of rising bubbles. It looks amazing. I'm tempted to throw an aquarium air pump into the swimming pool to get access to a standardised lot of endless bubbles for more experiments.

For today, I have packed a bunch of other fins to take to the pool, to find out if they feel much different in the water. Particularly the Ben Lexcen Star Fin should feel different if there is anything to it.

Mik

[swvic]

I'm thinking other pool users are affording you plenty of space to play quietly on your own

[MrMik]

With "the fin fits perfectly" I mean this:

A) It goes in easily but there is no sideways wobble once the screw is tightened a little bit.
B) No significant gap between box and fillet.
C) The fin can be placed anywhere in the box, including the extreme fore and aft positions. Some of the original Gullwing fins do not allow this, because their base is about half of the fin box length, so the pin or the tab end up in the insertion gap in some positions.

I can not yet tell if the BLEF has any effect, but so far I am convinced that a printed fin without BLEF would be superior to the originals, because it is so much lighter and it floats.

The injury risk is possibly higher with the BLEF, but I'm not certain about that. Gullwing-dings are unpleasant even with the standard front edge....