DIY Floating Wedge

[brad72]

Well the new improved wedge foil was cut today ready for some polishing on the weekend. Feels like a bit of dejavu but at least I should be twice as fast at polishing as I was the first time. Will also be so much easier to finish only welding from the top side. Thanks Again Andrew for the revised dimensions.

[brad72]

little bit more progress tonight managing to sneak out to the shed to machine one side of the foils trailing edge chamfer. Only took around 19 thou off per pass so anout 1/2 and hours work, and some tired arms winding the cross slides. Cut really well with no chatter and no heat in the swarf which meant no jumping around like an idiot when a hot bit finds it's way into your shirt. Next to set it up for the side then polish her up.

[justgary]

Time for a power feed?

Had to do a double take on your DRO reading out 5 micrometer increments. I had to do the math on that one, but it makes sense at ~0.0002".

As usual, nice work.

[brad72]

Time for a power feed?

Had to do a double take on your DRO reading out 5 micrometer increments. I had to do the math on that one, but it makes sense at ~0.0002".

As usual, nice work.

Thanks mate. A power feed would be heaven so will have to find a way a way to sneak it in so the CFO doesn't notice, or, we could swap mills

[justgary]

Thanks mate. A power feed would be heaven so will have to find a way a way to sneak it in so the CFO doesn't notice, or, we could swap mills

Yeah. Getting mine out of my shop would be a chore at this point, but I suppose if I have to....

Once you get power feed or CNC you'll notice that your endmill cost goes way up due to breakage. At least they never get dull!

[brad72]

I welded the corners and finished polishing the wedge bracket today, and not being known for my patience, mounted it to the transom to see what it will look like, and I like it a lot. I used some crickets to help with the positioning and I think they did a pretty good job Also added another coat of teak oil to the swim platform. Now to do the edges and mow before my wife gets home since they were the jobs I was meant to do today

Edited August 30, 2014 by brad72

[mkpursehouse]

I welded the corners and finished polishing the wedge bracket today, and not being known for my patience, mounted it to the transom to see what it will look like, and I like it a lot. I used some crickets to help with the positioning and I think they did a pretty good job Also added another coat of teak oil to the swim platform. Now to do the edges and mow before my wife gets home since they were the jobs I was meant to do today

Looks awesome, you should be really happy. I see you overcame your fear of drilling holes in your boat. lol

P.S, what are crickets????

[brad72]

Looks awesome, you should be really happy. I see you overcame your fear of drilling holes in your boat. lol

P.S, what are crickets????

Haven't drilled the holes yet, just double sided tape holding it in place because I was excited to see what it looked like. I will however be using the double sided tape to when final markout is done as it is far easier than trying to hold it in place.

Crickets are from JustGary in another post. Uses them to find the stringers apparently lol

Edited August 30, 2014 by brad72

[justgary]

Haven't drilled the holes yet, just double sided tape holding it in place because I was excited to see what it looked like. I will however be using the double sided tape to when final markout is done as it is far easier than trying to hold it in place.

Crickets are from JustGary in another post. Uses them to find the stringers apparently lol

I told you the crickets would work, Brad! But that was your own great move to wet their feet with teak oil and have them do double duty. Nice.

[cowwboy]

When you get the files all worked out I would love to have a copy. Floating wedge here I come.

[brad72]

When you get the files all worked out I would love to have a copy. Floating wedge here I come.

No problem mate

[cyclone18]

hey mate, that is a credit to you! awesome project brad.

I have a '05 VLX With the Manual Wedge, do you think this upgrade would work on my boat?

if so can you please share the file, I have a mate with the skills to get something like this knocked up!

[brad72]

Thanks for the compliment mate. Busy on an automation project a the moment so no more progress yet which is a bummer

Shoot me a PM with your email and I'll send through the files.

[brad72]

Bit more progress today finishing the chamfer on the trailing edge and polishing her up. Next to radius the arms and spin up the locking pins and barrel.

Note to self. Get a burnisher for polishing the stainless next time. Swirls are a pain to get out and hand sanding through progressive grades of wet and dry sucks, but the results are satisfying.

[Nitrousbird]

I have to ask...why wouldn't you just buy a floating wedge setup and use your skilled labor time you are pouring into this into something you can't easily buy, even if it is just to sell to make up the money spent on the floating wedge? Looks good...pretty exact copy of the floater bolted onto my boat.

[justgary]

Diy in this case is very cheap and a necessity since Malibu Australia will not sell me parts for my boat since it is a US import. Also for a $350 spend plus my labor is probably less than a 1/6 of buying one new. I guess though it depends on your skills and access to tools and motivation. If you have the gear and nohow, why not use it to your advantage.

Nitrous -

They refuse to sell it to him. That seems really strange to me, but maybe it's a part of their license agreement with Malibu.

The mirror finish is not a necessity, but I think that Brad decided to make a "thing" of an exact match, so he could stick it to The Man.

[Nitrousbird]

Nitrous -

They refuse to sell it to him. That seems really strange to me, but maybe it's a part of their license agreement with Malibu.

Could be ordered from a US dealer, I'd assume. I didn't give my HIN for my floating wedge; I bought the bracket used so not sure on that part.

[brad72]

I have to ask...why wouldn't you just buy a floating wedge setup and use your skilled labor time you are pouring into this into something you can't easily buy, even if it is just to sell to make up the money spent on the floating wedge? Looks good...pretty exact copy of the floater bolted onto my boat.

Thanks for the kind words Nitrous. I could purchase one from the states which i did look into before starting but couldn't find a bracket and it was going to cost far more than the $350 in materials, with the savings being put into ski gear. I have spent about 5 hours of manula work on this foil, most of it being polishing, but tinkering in my shed is something I enjoy and find ralaxing compared the stresses of my regular job but I completely appreciate what you are saying in making something I cannot get, instead of something I can. If I had the material polished before being laser cut the wedge could be knocked up in about an hour.

As Gary said Malibu australia will not sell any parts for an US import boat, not even a 50c washer. I hope this might change now Malibu USA has bought Malibu Australia but we wil see.

Edited September 14, 2014 by brad72

[brad72]

Did some test welds today on other foil I had so I feel like it was not a waste now. Anyway the first test weld produced lots of distortion in the foil as seen in the second picture, even with it being clamped to a 1" piece of aluminium to act as a heat sink and being allowed to air cool . The second weld however came out pretty much perfect. This was achieved by pre-stressing the plate by placing some 1.6mm filler wire under the weld zone and clamping down either side to creat a negative bend. I used about 170 amps of weld current and went as fast I could go. The end result was nearly dead flat, yay, so I just need to clamp a little harder on the proper foil and it should be sweet. Next to no discoloration on the underside so easy to buff back up to a mirror finish

Test weld

Grrrrrrr....distortion (weld is under the 6-7 inch area)

Pre-stressing the plate

Nice and flat after cooling

Edited September 16, 2014 by brad72

[cowwboy]

Looks awesome.

[brad72]

So i think I have a slight problem. I awoke at 5.15am and was lying in bed thinking "the mirror finish on the foil isn't quite mirror enough", so after cogitating for 15 minutes, got out of bed, and headed to the shed and started again. There are many things can be done in bed, but I got up.

Did things differently this time though and got a better result. Went through the following grades of wet and dry, 400-600-800-1000-1200-1500-2000 then finished with a stitched calico mop then a loose calico mop, then a rub over with metal polish and bam, now it is a mirror finish, and all before breakfast.

.

Edited September 19, 2014 by brad72

[justgary]

Apparently you can cogitate in bed (and for 15 minutes!), so that's one thing.

Stainless is kind of weird anyway, since it always seems like it ends up with a grain to it. Maybe that's because I don't cogitate over it enough, or I wait too late in the day for it to do any good.

[martinarcher]

Brad, is it bad when I can totally relate to that last post of yours?

[brad72]

Arrgghh Matt, ye should not be concerned that ye does tha same thing. Everyone else be different if they don't do it me thinks

(it be talk like ye pirate day, aarrghh)

Edited September 19, 2014 by brad72

[justgary]

A little over an hour to go for us before ITLAPD... I hope you had a fun day!