The passionate surfers and environmentally smart geeks at Madeboards have created the world’s first 3D printed custom-made surfboards.
As the brainchild of three forward thinking designers — Shannon Marks, Erik Johnson and Mark Laughlin — 3D printing is cleaning up the traditional process of building a surf board.
As Shannon notes, “The typical surfboard is a slab of petroleum-spawned polyurethane slathered in layers of toxic polyester resin. Gnarly, and not in a good way.
“I had an idea: there’s a simpler way to build and choose equipment for windsurfing, stand up paddle and surfing. ”
By collecting and analysing data from a surfer’s performance, style, weight and local water conditions with smart sensors, Madeboards can create a custom 3D printed board that is tuned and designed for the owner with as little environmental impact as possible.
The three founders are partnered and supported by Stratasys and their subsidiary RedEyeOnDemand. The boards themselves are 3D printed on a Stratasys Fortus 900, removing the need for traditional tooling and carving from styrofoam, offering limitless reconfigurable flexibility and a unique approach to manufacturing this type of sports equipment.
This is a great example of forward thinking plus new additive manufacturing tech pushing forward and enhancing an industry over-reliant on traditional techniques. A last word from Shannon, “We have our eyes set far beyond the horizon, always wondering what lies ahead.”
Madeboards will be Kickstarting their products through May 2013.
If you love to surf and care about the environment you are surfing in, you should check them out via the source link.
Source: madeboards.com
