14 DAY TRIAL // Roy Stuart is pretty famous among surfers for its surfboard designs, but it's taxing and time-consuming to handcraft them all by hand, and the fiberglass fins tend to cause him much frustration. Fortunately, 3D printing is here to help.
Making a handcrafted surfboard can take over 40 hours for him, and the fiberglass fins can be particularly troublesome (and expensive), because it's hard to create the right fin and adhering with moulding.
3D printing has made his life much easier, and the process of creating the fins more streamlined.
After approaching Tauranga 3D printing specialists Palmer Design and Manufacturing, he and the team converted the blueprints to computer-aided designs (CAD) that can be virtually modified and, later, 3D printed.
It took 2 months to finish the program and set up everything else associated with it, and now Stuart can meet his orders much more easily, allowing him to fully enjoy his passion once again.