HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN SURFBOARD SHAPING BENCH

"some easy steps in creating your own surfboard shaping bench"


The first step to building any decent surfboard shaping bench, that will be suited for shaping the board at multiple angles and allowing an east transition from rail to flat board positions.


I have prepared a rough list of the tools and materials that you will need to complete the project, I have also taken some photos of the bench being made as a visual reference is always good to work from.


Equipment List


1) Two lengths of thick 2x4 battens

2) Two Thick stand legs - 4x4 wooden battens would be ideal you can go thinner but its worth getting the thickness for extra stability.

3) Approximately 20 mini hinges preferably the metal kind these can be bought at approximately 40p each at most hardware stores.

4) You will need 8 leg battens these will need to be approximately 2x2 for to secure the legs and provide support.

5) Plenty of screws - to secure all the joints

6) Some thick polystyrene blocks for the internal support of the board rails

7) Some thinner sheet polystyrene for the pad blocks to support the board when its flat.

8) Some sand paper

9) A decent saw or jigsaw to cut neat lines

10) A screwdriver.


The first thing you will need to do is start building some forks, build two sets of forks that look like the picture shown below, and secure these with the metal hinges and wood glue sand them back for a neat finish once glued and screwed.

Here is a picture of the forks...


Step 1

Measure the forks up and cut any excess off around the top to make sure the forks are even. Secure with duck tape if needed.

Step 2

Secure the legs to the forks and secure with glue and hinges, make sure you measure the height of the legs to suit your optimal shaping height this varies for everyone but be sure to measure the legs and the allow for the fork arms and then secure together to make the total bench height.

Step 3

After securing the legs to the forks with glue hinges etc, you will need to make 4 pads, these can be made simply from mdf blocks and screwed in the top of the forks with glued screws to ensure no wobble.
These blocks will then need to be covered with the sheet polystyrene, cover the polystyrene sheet with super glue and then lay it over the the pad, using a sharp knife trim around the block leaving a slight overlap to allow for additional padding. When you have done this on all of the blocks the bench will start to take shape rapidly.

You will then need to start adding the block polystyrene to the bench cut it with into approximately 10cm blocks and glue and cut to fit the gap in between the forks this will cushion the rails of the board.

Glue in and secure the blocks and apply this to each one, here is a pic below to show what it looks like at this stage.

 Step 4

The next  step is pretty easy it just really involves  putting it all together and securing the bench, with the hinges and ensuring the height and structure is secure enough not to wobble around when shaping a board on it. You will then need to start making the cross beam and the ground leg support made from the 2x2 the pics should make it a bit clearer.

Here are some more pictures of the bench nearing completion.

When you have added the legs then add the cross beam and you are nearly there!


Step 5

"You have finished just smooth down the edges bolt the bench to the floor, its a really good bench and I have used mine lots of times and have found it to be one of the best shaped benches for shaping on, it allows you to shape the board flat or on its rail so its ideal for ding repair and laminating or spraying what ever you need to do its a solid bench and will give you everything you need in a shaping bench. Hope this has been help full to who ever stumbles across this, any problems I will be welcome to provide a few pointers if ya get stuck with any of it, you can get me on volumetricproducts@hotmail.co.uk "

Enjoy !


Hard at work!!