best of luck with the build, I will be posting more updates over the next few weeks.
are you planning on printing the mast and foil?. If so check out grabcad for files.
Grabcad mast: https://grabcad.com/library/kitefoil-hydrofoil-1 You can print it multiple times for different
lengths, but I would not recommend printing over 100 mm in height to keep the quality high also I have
printed the front foil but fear it is not big enough so I suggest finding another or designing your own.
Sorry the efoil forum wont let me upload my stl files for some reason.
10% infill 3 walls and 50-80mm/s PLA- 195 Bed-65
Cheers, David & best of luck, hola if you need any help.
Hi David thanks a lot for the link and print info thats really helpfull.
Just out of interest what model of 3d printer do you have? At the moment I am making do with our school printer but im looking into maybe getting one of my own
I have an Anet A8. Very cheap machine but requires a little love and care to get it running. Print some upgrades and buy some cheap parts and you will be sorted. You will learn a lot about 3d printing too.
Latest updates! Built a vacuum bag system for carbon/glass impregnating the foils.
Because vacuum systems are extremely expensive we bought a 12v car tire pump and re engineered it to create a vacuum instead of pressurise a tire. We then bought 6$ vacuum storage bags and so far works great.
We also put the last layer of fiberglass on the board.
Pro tip for cheap vacuum pump, use an old refrigerator pump (the black thing on the back) they are excellent vacuum pumps. Can run for long periodes of times with no issues. Normally these work on old refrigerator that are thrown away…
To get even better results you could make a layup like this: Wing, Fiberglass/carbon, PE plastic sheet with loads of small holes(Hardware store + home made hole roller), Fleeze blanket (IKEA), vacuum bag (a easy way yo make these are with acrylic/silicone paste and sheets of plastic, super easy to get airtight). This way, excess glue will be soked into the fleeze blanket and make a stronger and lighter composite structure. All of these things can be bough really cheap (compared to stuff made for this, which costs loads of $$$)
I have not thougt about the fleeze blanket but will give it a try, heard about the fridge pump but the 12v pump was cheaper and easier for me and works really well.
Yep will experimenting with some different profiles, we have also bought 3 china foils. We are using vacuum bagging to to build the board as well, really nice to use when doing complex geometries, such as the room inside the board, Then you can do all layers at once with near to perfect results.
Are you doing a releasable foil mount to the fuselage? would it make sense to do so, to experiment with different wings?
Hi DavidC, can you please provide more info about how you modified the type 12v pump so it will work in opposite direction and make a vacuum? It will be nice if you can provide some pictures of the modification.
I’ve successfully used a Roarockit vucuum bagging kit to build a number of skateboard decks and enclosures. Should also work for building a foil or mast out of foam.
The thing with these kits is that they seal very well and the bag is very strong so you can use them many times. There is a manual pump in the kit.
The kit is not cheap, but good value, especially when you want to build several foils.
Yes you are right it got quite hot so we wired 2 computer fans up and pointed them into the vents. Its a fairly simple mod but explaining would be harder than linking a youtube video.
Best advice I would give is to watch loads of youtube videos. nearly everything I have learnt is from youtube.
Come up with some ideas and do some tests. personally a cheap clothing vacuum bag worked for me with a 12v pump.
the hole at the back of the board will be the access hat hatch. it will have a stainless steel insert and then another stainless steel cover bolted on with silicone gaskets to seal it.
I will then house the electronics and batteries in here. the hole is 350mm x 400mm x 60mm.
I think I will remove the rear compartment in favour of a top hatch like lift/jetfoiler with a curved back for v1.2
