Acrylic Base with Wooden Support

Context

This was the solid wooden-supported acrylic laminating base used before the later modular A3-sheet arrangement.

A carbon fin blade has a flat section that connects to the foot pocket and an active blade area set at an angle to compensate for the ankle angle. The laminating surface therefore needs to reproduce the transition between the flat connection and angled active area.

Implemented setup

• Acrylic sheets form the laminating surface.
• A wooden base supports them at a fixed 25° angle.
• Brackets hold the wooden support at that angle.
• Double-sided tape secures the acrylic sheets to the wooden base.
• The assembled support is solid and can be placed as a complete unit inside a standard vacuum bag.

Trade-offs

• The wooden support requires sourcing and cutting the wood, then fitting the brackets.
• Putting the complete base inside the vacuum bag limits its dimensions to the available bag size.
• The gap beneath the angled section is exposed to negative pressure during bagging, which can bend the acrylic sheets.
• This configuration was subsequently superseded by the modular A3 acrylic-sheet base, which became the basis for all laminating work.

Unresolved details

• The exact wooden support and bracket geometry was not recorded.
• The overall base and acrylic-sheet dimensions were not recorded.
• The conversation did not establish how bending across the unsupported gap was handled in practice.
• The tools and 1.5–2.5-hour build time supplied in the response were generated estimates rather than observed details.

General claims from the response about resin flow, ergonomics, easy release and a typical 20–30° blade angle are not treated as implemented design facts. The recorded angle for this base is 25°.