Well we headed out for our latest Foam E-Z fuNKy FieldTrip
and ended up at Procam, CNC surfboard machine shop. When we showed up there was foam everywhere,
EPS and PU alike. Huge billets of EPS to
be cut into surfboards, SUPs, and paddleboards were stacked to the sky! Tucker came out to greet us with his trusty
watchdog Devo. Tucker then brought us in
to show us where the redwoods of paddleboards get cut. There were fourteen foot blocks and huge
paddle boards reaching to the roof. I couldn't believe my eyes at the size of these EPS skyscrapers! They cut these boards for some of the biggest
names in the industry.
Next we strolled over to the ware house next door. This is where all the crazy high tech
business goes on and where the owner Brian resides. In his office are the computer masterminds
that convert and write the programs to make their machines run smoothly. Brian and good friend Robert Colby started
Procam back in 1996. With the computer
age really blowing up, easy to use surfboard specific programs were
created. Shape 3D and AKU are the
standards now and all shapers have to do is send their files over and Brian can
cut their boards. The result is, shapers
have become programmers.
Getting boards cut on the machine
isn’t for everyone, but computer savvy shapers can really fine tune and
reproduce a “magic” surfboard like never before.
Thanks Brian for having at your EPS
redwood forest!
