
I could probably do a better job of not wasting resin here if I had some smaller mixing cups.

This is about ten times more epoxy than is needed for this job, but I find mixing smaller quantities than this to be difficult to do accurately. Then I mixed up three ounces of epoxy/slow hardener to set the boxes in place. I routed three holes into the bottom of the board. Using FCS's installation kit for the fin boxes was pretty straightforward. I know there are other fin systems out there, but FCS and Future are the easiest to find fins for, and I didn't want to make my life difficult. I chose to use FCS Fusion boxes because I like the idea of installing them under the glass, and there are certain things I don't like about Future fins (unused fin boxes leave giant holes in the bottom of the board, fins can't overhang the front or rear of the box). After maybe half an hour or so, the board was ready to go and looking like this: I did all this work with a sanding screen on a soft sanding block. The picture here shows what the board looked like straight out of the shaping machine:Īt this stage, the board still needs some finishing. It came out pretty decent, needing just some finishing work. Cutting boards with planers will eventually go the way of the typewriter.Īnyway, I had Matt Ambrose of Ambrose Industrial Surfboards out of Pacifica cut my board from a Marko EPS blank. Those tools are electronic shaping machines. Personally, I'm more concerned with getting the board to come out the way I want it, and I don't see any reason not to use the best tools currently available. Some people don't think it counts to use a shaping machine. The actual board probably came out slightly off from those numbers, but should be pretty close.
#Aku shaper free pdf
Here's a PDF file showing the board I designed.

It's free, too, which is nice, and the files it outputs are compatible with most electronic shaping machines. Aku Shaper is a really easy-to-use CAD application specifically designed for making surfboards. I largely based this board on two existing boards I owned, made some measurements, and went to work in Aku Shaper. I needed to design the board I wanted to build. I put an 80lb bag in each bucket and it just makes these things a huge pain to move around. One tip - if you're anchoring your stands in buckets with cement, a single 80lb bag is plenty for both stands. These stands are really pretty straightforward, and anything close will probably work fine. I found a design for some stands online somewhere and built something similar. The first thing I needed for this project was somewhere to work. The build took place in August and September of 2010. It's a 5'10" thruster built from Marko EPS foam and Resin Research epoxy. I bought the tools, borrowed a friend's garage, and got to work. I decided I'd make do with what was available. But I'm 29 now, and thinking about surfboard design a lot lately had rekindled this idea. I've never had the space, and back then, I didn't have the money to buy tools and supplies, either. You can also output the AKU designs to PDF after you have customized them, here is a sample output from A Mini Simmons AKU file design.Ever since I was in high school, I've wanted to build my own surfboard.


If you want to use the shaping machine then just take your file and locate the closest machine supplier and they’ll run the shapes for you. The AKU file is the file format read by the software, you have to have the program to open the file. It’s made to feed into a shaping machine but it can also help you with your custom shaping projects.
#Aku shaper free software
The software is made for both Mac and PC and provides a 3D environment to design surfboards. It is really easy to use and lots of fun. The AKU shaping software is the software that was developed to use with the AKU machine (but you can use it without buying the machine too). The AKU is a machine used to ‘machine shape’ a surfboard blank. AKU Shaping Machine AKU Surfboard Shaping Software The AKU shaping software is a fun tool to use to throw together some surfboard shaping ideas.
