Wakeboard Rack DIY Project

Anybody have a link or plans they could share with me for a wakeboard rack do it yourself project?

I have built racks before...do you have the tools? CNC machine is best, but probably not. Scroll saw or band saw is minimum. Email me at Marlon494@aol.com if you are interested. I can send you a dimensionalized drawing and instructions.

Marlon

A CNC would make things alot easier. But I managed to build mine with a circular saw, drill press, plasma cutter & several different sanding wheels. It took a few days, but I deffinately didn't spend $300. If you want pics,dimensions or materials, let me know... cinder1995@hotmail.com.

I have access to CNC machinery and aluminum materials - what I lack is plans, pictures and a clue.

Eric,

How much did the circular saw, drill press, plasma cutter, and sanding wheels cost? How many hours did you spend doing it?

Ryan

I have already machined some racks, but can not come up with what to use as padding for the fingers? I would like to coat them in rubber somehow. Any ideas

route a groove for some rubber tubing and glue it in the slot

SILICONE!!! It drys clear, keeps the boards free from scratches and it doesn't look out of place.

Ryan,
The circular saw is only about $30. The drill press, plasma cutter & sanding wheels I had at the company I work at. It wouldn't pay to build them yourself if you didn't already have access to these. And I spent about 10 hours split up over a couple of days....As far as padding for the fingers. I bought a big sheet of 1/4" neoprene with an adhesive backing on it. The only problem I have with it is where the corner of the board rests against the inside of the "fingers", it leaves a crease. Bob mention routing a groove for some tubing. That would work, but I don't know how you would get a tool in that little space to cut a groove...Someone mentioned silicone. I don't think it would stick to the aluminum good enough when sliding the boards on and off.

Daniel, They make a rubber coating to dip tools in. You could try that.

Rather than neoprene, you could also go with a peel-and-stick rubber product that is more dense than neoprene like this stuff from Sano Sports:

http://www.sanosports.com/flatfirm.htm

I have some of this stuff and I've used it for tower mount gaskets and other stuff. It's great.

Check out this place for Great Foam Tubing/ and Foam Wrap Tape. I used both on my racks. you can buy either by the foot.

http://www.foamtubing.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=FTCTL

I am in the middle of my first Rack DIY project. Fortunately, I have access to a tool and die shop with CNC machining. The rack will be completely custom. If anyone is interested, I could post some of the dimensional plans here, it's fairly simple and you could probably find easier ways to do the clamps.

For the padding, the suggestions above are great. I am gonna try tool-dip coating, either spray or dip/paint on, but I would do it on a sample piece first, that stuff is not pricey.

If you are tentative about using metal working equipment, you could try marine plywood, maybe double up the material on the fingers of the rack. Sanding it smooth would be pretty easy. There are alot of marine paints you could use on it and it would probably be less expensive than aluminum.

For clamps, I have found some really nice ones at industrial metal suppliers. The ones I liked were 25 bucks a pop, and still needed some secondary drilling to attach to the base plate of the rack, so that is like 100 bucks for the clamps, but you might be able to find cheaper ones than that.

If you are interested, I will post the basic plans with dimensions, let me know.

I originally tried the peel-n-stick rubber. It came off the first time I used it. The neoprene I used looks exactly like wetsuit material & is extremely tough.... As far as clamps. My company sells clamps that are made to fit around all sizes of tubing and pipe. They come with S.S. plates and bolts and either santoprene or aluminum inserts. I can do chin-ups from my rack and it won't slide down.

Tim - would love to see the plans. post 'em.

Hopefully the attachments come out right and are readable. These are just pretty basic view pics with some dimensions. This is all machined aluminum but might give you some ideas and there is always another way. The base is 0.50, Fingers are 0.75, and the clamps are 1.00 thick. I am using 5/16"-18 socket head cap screws. The unhidden side view shows the screws. 2" through the clamp base, rack base, and screws into the fingers. The 1" (or 1.25") secures throughthe clamp top around the pole and threads to the clamp base. Our tube is 1.75 DIA, so that is what I used on the clamps. We are gonna machine the clamps, and drill and counter bore them in one piece, then cut them on the band saw so they flex and bite around the tube.

I am lucky that I have a bro who runs the CNC and is into this, he is essentially making this design. I got the 6061 aluminum at an industrial metal supply. 160 bucks got me way more than I needed for two racks.

The fingers are pretty wide on center, but that gives some room for padding, boards are about an inch thick. I put holes and slots all over for different bungee mounting, this is experimental and can be adjusted to find the easiest way. The two finger plates are on about 8" centers, and that is good for adult stances, smaller stance boards may not fit on these racks, so you may want to put the finger plates closer together. My Byerly with claw hold downs will fit with an inch to spare on either side between the bindings.

Last is the machining of some flames on the base plate for nice decoration. I will paint the recessed areas black to make the design pop off the plate, everything will be polished on the buffing wheel. There is a design between the finger plates, but it's a rip off and I am a bit ashamed to show it on the site. Maybe when I am done I will snap a pick and see what everyone thinks.Anyway, if you want to know more, just post. There are lots of ways to do this, and I would enjoy seeing what other people do.

PS- After buying all the aluminum, taking design time, machining time, drilling, tapping, polishing, etc... It is easy to see why nice racks cost 300 a piece. DIY is way more satisfying, even if you can't do a pro CNC design.

Tim - Your detail is great. Thanks for your time in making this post - it will help tremendously. John

Tim - Do you have those plans in CAD format?