42 Surfboards Rides in as Inventor of the Month for June 2008

By DE Editors

Anyone growing up along the California coast knows how important surfing is, and especially if you have grown up in a surfing community. The sound of surf is a thread running through your being. The sight of surfers waiting for a wave on an undulating sea in the early morning light is imprinted in my memory as is the smell of Coppertone or what we know as “sunscreen” today.

For those who have seen Bruce Brown’s classic 1964 film,  “The Endless Summer,” you know that surfing aficionados travel the globe in search of the “perfect wave,” which is not necessarily a huge wave, but rather,  a “small wave with a perfect shape.”

Since then the sport of surfing has evolved, so it’s not surprising that Autodesk, Inc. (San Rafael, CA)  has named 42 Surfboards, an Oregon-based manufacturer of classic surfboards, the Autodesk Inventor of the Month for June 2008. Where traditionally surfboards were made from materials such as foam and balsa wood, which have a large carbon footprint, 42 Surfboards uses Autodesk Inventor software to create its line of high-performance surfboards that are shaped entirely from sustainably harvested local woods.

Even back when Bruce Brown helped popularize the sport, foam and balsa wood were  the only materials that major surfboard manufacturers could use to achieve the proper density ratios for their boards. Both materials are not strong, and both  have a negative impact on the environment. A petroleum-based product, foam has a highly toxic manufacturing process, while balsa wood must be shipped from South America to other parts of the world, which adds to its carbon footprint. Although hardwood, used for centuries, is a much stronger material, it is very heavy,  which affects the speed and action of the board and surfer.

By using Autodesk Inventor, 42 Surfboards can take local woods such as spruce and poplar and give them the lightness and performance of balsa wood, and create a new generation of beautiful wooden surfboards. With Inventor’s solid modeling functionality 42 Surfboards can digitally shape a piece of hardwood and create a wooden surface exactly as thick or thin as needed. The process involves precisely shaping the wood, which minimizes the total weight while maximizing strength, creating a sturdy board that is very fast and highly maneuverable.

“Inventor is the difference between being able to do what we do, and only being able to imagine it,” said Lars Bergstrom,  president of 42 Surfboards. “With Inventor’s solid modeling capabilities,  we are able to be precise on the order of thousandths of an inch in designing our boards, and build them to exact specifications. We would not be able to get anywhere near the tolerance levels we require, and we would not be able to use locally grown and sustainably harvested wood for our surfboards, without solid modeling.”

42 Surfboards can rapidly explore new product ideas and designs without the time and expense of creating physical prototypes, thanks to digital prototyping. The company now offers seven different 100% wood surfboard models within its product lineup. Another environmentally friendly feature of the new surfboard models is that they are designed to last a lifetime,  contrasted with the foam and balsa boards which were so fragile they had to be replaced frequently.

The Inventor of the Month program recognizes the most innovative design and engineering advancements made by the extensive community using products from the Autodesk Inventor software product family — the foundation of the Autodesk solution for Digital Prototyping. A digital prototype is a realistic 3D model of the entire end product, used to virtually optimize and validate a product before it is built to reduce the necessity of constructing physical prototypes.

About the Autodesk Inventor of the Month Program
Each month, Autodesk selects an Inventor of the Month from the more than 700,000 users of Autodesk Inventor software, the foundation for Digital Prototyping. Winners are chosen for engineering excellence and groundbreaking innovation. For more information about the Autodesk Inventor of the Month program, contact us at [email protected].

Autodesk
San Rafael,CA

For additional information, visit 42 Surfboards.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.