Board is slightly curved, how to make enclosure

I have a kick tail and the bottom is a little curved on each side, how would I mount an enclosure to be flat against the board so water can’t get in? Do I just need to make a lip or do I need to make the lip curved a little bit.

Depends on the material. Are you buying or fabricating? If using ABS, just hit it with a heat gun on each end and press down.

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I’m going to 3d print it with abs but I don’t have access to a heat gun, can I use a blow drier or something

did you model the enclosure or is it something you found?

if you modeled it you could try to create a curve in the model for the deck then print tests with extremely low infill to see if the curve matches.

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I didn’t make a model yet but I have all the dimensions. Is there a way to Measire the curve of my board and add that to the design for the lip

Sure. I’m no expert in math, but i can eyeball stuff. The way i do it is use a piece of stiff cardboard and a razor to first match the curve by hand. Once you have that sitting flush and shaved to perfection you can take measurements of that template and apply it to the model. Zoom 1:1 on your screen and you could even hold the cardboard up to the screen and see how close you got.

From there it won’t be absolutely perfect, but shoudl be damned close. Then you can make minor adjustments and do the reprint-with-low-infill thing to get it exact on a small piece of the model so you don’t waste too much plastic.

or he could get something rigid and lay it on the middle and measure the distance to the board from the outer edges…

your way is good too :joy:

that gives you three data points. A template stores infinite data points and can be referenced later and more easily for data points you didn’t measure to begin with. You can make a triangle or a curve with three points. Add more points and you better define the curve.

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true but templates also become harder to make and less precise when you hold it up to the screen. i could make an enclosure to perfectly fit the concave of my deck in 3 points. W concave is a bit different

there was a device with pins i saw once… pins on sensors… that could accurately measure curves with high resolution.

i wish i had one.

One day i will have all of the toys. All of them. That’ll show them.

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at that point you might as well just 3d scan the board!

also, I don’t see a plane ticket in my email yet… get on it!

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I’ll 3d scan your face!

Here’s your ticket. Hope you don’t mind Third Class.

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sweet! i’ll hop on the boat next week so I can be there in january

You may not get there, i hear this boat likes ice water so much it got all broken up over it.

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my eboard is amphibious :wink:

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For my board I first tapped the board and made a grid on the bottom, then I using a dial indicator I measured each intersection of the grid and put the values in a spreadsheet. From there I exported the data as a cloud point and imported in the CAD, them it was a matter of fine tuning and modeling the outline using a picture. By having the actual deck on 3D it’s easy to use it to make the enclosure that fits perfectly when printed

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just use fiberglass, more work with hands but it should be done faster than modeling printing modifying etc what ever you need to do when it dries just a bit of sand paper and paint and you are done

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but stay away from polyester resin. that includes Bondo. Its terrible.

Why do you think that, boats are made out of it especially the racing ones I made my enclosure from it and I can basically stand on it without it breaking and its not even flat on the edges! No cracks or anything, ive used 500-550g fiberglass and like 9 layers of it maybe that’s the reason

Its wretched and stinks and the fumes will destroy you. There are plenty of other resins out there that can be used in low ventilation areas without causing migraine and nausea.

West Systems is expensive, but as an example it smells like mint and doesn’t kill your head. There’s also a ton of inexpensive organic stuff out there that will build a box quite well.

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