The idea of performance is characterized by the control of the mechanical parameters of a product and by the precision that can be brought to it.
Such a search for performance is already present in "action sports" such as Skiing or Formula 1, in which mastery and precision are essential.
In surfing, it is only the very beginning and it is with a lot of work that we open this way since a few years. Our team is mainly working on optimizing the mechanical performance of the board's core.
Here is a short clip that gives an overview of our approach.
3D printing for performance
In surfing, the huge progress of the last 50 years concerns the external shapes (the Shapes) always more worked, controlled and precise. It is a development based essentially on the experience of the shaper. The work of the heart of the board, its foam bread, is as for him, rather little exploited.
Today, to shaper a board in Polyurethane (PU), it is to have a bread of foam with a controlled form but a completely homogeneous matter.
It is 3D printing that will allow us to control the technical parameters of our boards with millimetric precision. The core of the boards is printed according to a honeycomb structure that allows us to vary the mechanical parameters from one board to another according to its use. Whether it is in terms of weight, flex, torsion or even vibration, we control our board down to its core.
We see this development as the 4th dimension of shaping.
Combining scientific precision and shaper experience
Today, new materials have emerged in this quest for performance, such as EPS blocks or carbon laminates. The stake of performance becomes in the center of the preoccupations of the manufacturers with a practice which is professionalized, in particular with the arrival of the wave pools, the surfing in the Olympic Games or the new formats of the WSL.
We think it is possible to combine our technological know-how with the experience of the best shapers. 3D printing allows us to master the mechanics of a board core, the shaper allows us to draw the perfect external shapes.
We will talk to you about this subject soon because beautiful projects are under development on this subject...
