How to Build a Hydrofoil: Fuselage - Shaping The Aluminum (Video 11/15)

An in-depth video series for how to build a hydrofoil from home that actually works. There are several ways to build a hydrofoil, this is simply how I like to do it. - Free Hydrofoil plans here: flukeskitesurfing.com/hydrofo...
- Find Recommended Hydrofoil parts here: flukeskitesurfing.com/store/c...
- New videos posted daily @FlukesKitesurfing
In this video, we shape the hydrofoils aluminium fuselage. The goal is to shape and slim the alloy fuselage to help reduce weight and make the fuselage more hydrodynamic. To shape the fuselage, you can use several different tools. The fastest I've found is the table saw with a tungsten carbide tooth blade. I have used a fine tooth blade more able to cut non-ferrous metals. A table saw will cut aluminium, however, 25mm thick is a lot for the saw and safety precautions should be taken to make sure the alloy cant move unintentionally while cutting.
That includes the piece the is cut off. It's a good idea to cut a “false” base for the table saw out of melamine board so that you can run the saw blade into the saw and leave the base in place. This new base will make sure there is no space beside the blade where a piece can fall down.
With such a heavy piece of metal, table sawing can be a bit uneasy, particularly for someone that doesn't have much experience in the saw,. Alternative cutting methods are bandsaw, jigsaw, machining down with a router etc. To cut the fuselage on a table saw, start by building a jig to securely hold the aluminium while we cut it.
The jig: To make the cutting jig, use some ply (or other composite board) and some backing pieces of wood fastened to the board to hold the aluminium on the desired angle, supported and providing a screwing backer.
Once the jig is built, we can start cutting.
Cutting the Fuselage: to cut the piece, run it through the table saw. Again, it's important to FASTEN the piece well and GO SLOW.
We start by cutting the front slope of the fuselage nose, then the two tail cuts as they are the same angle, so we don't need to move the major backing piece for the jig. Once done, we move the jig and slim out the tail of the fuselage. Once we have finished all the fuselage cuts, we clean it all up using a belt sander to smooth any sharp corners blending in the angles of the fuselage when we have just cut into the flat surfaces as well as sanding any rough market made by the saw smooth.
Can you make your own hydrofoil?
In my opinion, this is one of the best ways to make a hydrofoil from home. By design, the foil construction helps remove critical mistakes that people can make, leaving them with a hydrofoil that won't fly. The free hydrofoil plans are there to help you end up with a hydrofoil that works! So, If you're wondering if you can build a hydrofoil yourself DIY? You can!
How to make a hydrofoil playlist here:
VIDEO LIST:
1. How to Build a Hydrofoil: Planning and Design Principals (Part 1)
• How to Build a Hydrofo...
2. How to build a Hydrofoil: Machine and cutting outline (Part 2) • How to build a Hydrofo...
3. How to Build a Hydrofoil: Shaping the foil wings (Part 3)
• How to Build a Hydrofo...
4. How to Build a Hydrofoil: Resin Sealer coat (Part 4)
• How to Build a Hydrofo...
5. How to build a hydrofoil: Glassing the bottom (Part 5)
• How to build a hydrofo...
6. How to build a Hydrofoil: Holes and edge Resin filling (Part 6)
• How to build a Hydrofo...
7. How to Build a Hydrofoil: Top Fibreglass Lamination (Part 7)
• How to Build a Hydrofo...
8. How to Build a Hydrofoil: Resin "Hot Coat" (Part 8)
• How to Build a Hydrofo...
9. How to Build a Hydrofoil: Screw Holes & Final Sanding (Part 9)
• How to Build a Hydrofo...
10. How to Build a Hydrofoil Fuselage: - Planning & Drilling Holes (Part 10)
• How to Build a Hydrofo...
11. How to Build a Hydrofoil: Fuselage - Shaping (Part 11)
• How to Build a Hydrofo...
12. How to Build a Hydrofoil: Fuselage - Tapping Holes (Part 12)
• How to Build a Hydrofo...
13. How to Build a Hydrofoil: Fuselage - Routing (Part 13)
• How to Build a Hydrofo...
14. How to Build a Hydrofoil: Assembly and Final Points. (Part 14)
• How to Build a Hydrofo...
15. How to Build a Hydrofoil: The Test - Riding The Foil For The First Time. (Part 15)
• How to Build a Hydrofo...
Website Link: flukeskitesurfing.com/
Shoutout to Ryan parsons for helping test! / ryanparsonsofficial
flukeskitesurfing.com/
DISCLAIMER: THE USER(S) ASSUMES ANY AND ALL RISK ARISING FROM THE USE OF THIS VIDEO, PLAN OR THE USE OF THE HYDROFOIL (AND ASSOCIATED NOTES) CONTAINED HEREIN. BY USING THIS INFORMATION, ONLY YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY LOSS OR INJURY. YOU AGREE FLUKES KITESURFING OR ITS OWNERS ARE RELEASED FROM ANY LIABILITY AND YOU CAN MAKE NO CLAIMS WHATSOEVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.
How to Build a Hydrofoil: Fuselage - Shaping The Aluminum

[@juergensplieth6068]

This series is a firework of information, thx a lot for sharing. My selfbuild foilbord ist nearly ready for take of. my first thought was to buy a foil, but with these instructions it will be possible to build it safely. so many little details. Best regards from the Baltic Sea 🤙

[@FlukesKitesurfing]

Awesome Juergen! Yes if you have already built the board, it would be epic to add the foil too! Let us know how it goes :)

[@trimaranchuck]

I tried cutting mine on both a metal cutting bandsaw, wood cutting bandsaw, and my table saw. None of them were easy! When all is said and done, I think the table saw, used slowly!, making multiple passes, raising the blade each pass, is the best. Thanks for making the videos.

[@FlukesKitesurfing]

Nice! Thanks for letting us know. Doing multiple smaller passes on the table saw is a great idea! That would make it feel a bit less intense for sure :)

[@FlukesKitesurfing]

Side Note: it is possible to build this fuselage without shaping the alloy it like this. To make this more DIY Friendly, Simply just cut the front of the fuse at a 45-degree angle using a saw/hacksaw to make it somewhat hydrodynamic. While it won't be quite as good, it will still work and means you don't need to make all of these cuts on a table saw.