Ventral on Carbon

[Ham_Wallace]

OK Ballers, Has anyone tried a Ventral Wing on a Carbon Fin? Horton, can you safely drill a Coyote Brothers Research Carbon Fin? (don't worry JD, I won't drill yours).

[Horton]

Yes you can drill a CarbonFin but you need a very sharp drill bit in a drill press. You will want to clamp the fin down extra tight. Go Slow. Drilling through the Carbon is easy - the hard part is not splintering the back side of the fin.

 

If the back side of the hole splinters you can repair with super glue and Wet&Dry sandpaper.

 

[Bud Man]

I’ve never drilled into carbon before, but hearing what John just said, I would suggest putting a backer board under the fin to completely support where the bit exits the fin.

[Horton]

Unless he is going to clamp it to his hand ... that is what I said.

[Bud Man]

John, I don’t understand what appears to me to be sarcasm.

 

My drill press, and all that I have ever seen, has a large hole in the table for different size bits to pass through. You gave sensible warning about the carbon splintering on the back side, so I added the suggestion of a backer board. I have put a lot of things to my table to drill through and when they are small I make sure I clamp them instead of holding them with my hand. I don’t understand what you are talking about clamping to his hand.

 

[A_B]

I have drilled a lot of Goode skis for Animals, and the thing that works for them is to run the drill backwards. I am not sure if a fin is "harder" so this will not work or not, but might be worth a try. The other thing to try would be drill from one side then flip and drill from the other. Any splintering might be in the middle of the fin. Just a thought.

 

My dad's drill press also has a larger hole in the middle, so if you clamp down as tight as you want, there is no backing to the fin, and the drill may bust through the final thin carbon wall pretty quickly. I beleive having the drill run into wood or something is a good suggestion Bud.

[Wish]

Drill it with a board underneath. SHARP bit passes through fin and begins to drill into wood. Clamp every thing down well. Easy. Works great for many application but fine word working is where I learned. Splintering out an expensive piece of of Mahogany or Oak vanier sucks.

[RichardDoane]

Bud Man - drill 1/2 way from each side, and use the clamp/backing board and it'll go just fine