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Cutting Down center fins.

 
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Junkee
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PostPosted: May 23, 2005 9:51 am    Post subject: Cutting Down center fins. Reply with quote

I did a seach which wielded little to no results.

so, here we go.

Has anyone ever altered, or cut down their center fins for their board? I have these giant 2.5 "dorsal" fins on my cwb.

Will a dremel do the trick to cut them down to about 1.5 or less. I have a feeling it will. Its just guaging the depth of the holding screw of course.

Also will tapering them down, to a 'V' shape, be a pain, as i do not want a thick fin on the bottom.

Thanks.
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Efox
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Joined: 11 Oct 2004
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PostPosted: May 23, 2005 10:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sure it's do-able...but what's your time worth? There are several fin companies that sell what you're looking for at a reasonable price. Also, if you screw up the shaping, you will certainly be buying another pair.

Eric

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Junkee
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PostPosted: May 23, 2005 10:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Efox, well the thing is i have molded in fins so if i mess it up, i can always go without the center fin. That and i just dont feel like buying smaller fins. Razz

Also i feel that if i fabricate this well enough, Jesse James will come knocking at my door to be on monster garage wakeboard edition. Razz Laughing
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Scott M
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PostPosted: May 23, 2005 2:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I had huge fins on my old hyperlite and one day i just decided to sand them down. Mine were the hard plastic kind im not sure what you have but it should work. I just scored the fin and started sanding with normal sand paper, it took along time and your way would probably be easier and quicker....but its deffinatly possible, and i liked my board so much more after i got the smaller fins
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natxbrotha
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PostPosted: Jun 30, 2005 5:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

i cut the center fins in half on my two 02' prodigy's... then i filled them with fiberglass.
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wakeboarder89
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Joined: 15 Jun 2003
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PostPosted: Jul 01, 2005 6:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

i cut the fins on my 01 belmont in half. They are the carbon fiber ones, i think thats what they are made out of. I started sanding them and then realized it was gonna take too long so i used a hack saw and then sanded them.
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Hooterville
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Joined: 15 Jun 2005
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PostPosted: Jul 03, 2005 6:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I cut down the 2.5 inch on my Hyperlite, to about 1.75 or so. It was easy I used a saw to cut it close then a file and some sandpaper to smooth it out. The fin was hard plastic.
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Bruky
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PostPosted: Jul 04, 2005 7:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oh the smell of fresh roasted composite plastic.

Cut and hand-sand. If you try to shape them with a Dremel they'll start melting and smelling and just get icky.
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Wallrat
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Joined: 24 May 2005
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PostPosted: Jul 04, 2005 3:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I did it with a dremel on my fiberglass kiteboard fins. I drew out a shape on paper that I figured would yield the desired results and traced it out onto the fins. Did a rough sand with the dremel and then cleaned it all up with a block sander. Ended up still being too 'grippy' for me so I trimmed off another 1/4" before I got it to where I liked it. Just take off a little bit at a time and test it out after each reshape. I had 4 fins to do and even the first time when I removed alot it took less than an hour start to finish.
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MIWakeboarder
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Joined: 22 Jun 2005
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PostPosted: Jul 07, 2005 9:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cut them down with a hack saw and then file them to smooth them out. i used a dremel on plastic fins with a cuttting wheel, and they melt. I also burnt the motor out on the dremel. gR.
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Wallrat
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PostPosted: Jul 07, 2005 2:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dremel makes an attachment for taking down plastic. Its a small metal drum with diagonal ridges across it. You still get melting issues if you turn the speed up too high but it works pretty good.
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