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Comment by mixmax | Hacker News Reader

I'm currently looking into making molds by using an industrial robot to carve it out of foam from a 3D file.

Maybe we should talk? My mail is in my profile.

Hmm, that is already done extensively in the marine and aerospace industry? Maybe since you are talking about the mold itself rather than the plug it is new, but take a look. This is hardly an authoritative link, just something I saw about an hour ago, but that is basically the way all boats are made today. http://www.49er.org/images/stories/pdf/49erforward.pdf

Thanks for the link. I'm not necessarily looking for cutting-edge technology, simply something I can use and experiment with for a weekend project. I live on a boat and have been perplexed by how badly designed the interior of most boats and yachts are, so just for fun I drew one up in 3ds max, and I'm thinking about building it. So I'm basically just looking for the best and cheapest way of doing it. If it works out well it might end up being a business but for now it's just a weekend project.

Some (early stage) renderings here: http://www.maximise.dk/yacht/

I spent the last 20 years spending 3 months a year living on a boat, I feel you - some of them are poorly done. I have seen many ship yards from the inside, from Sea Ray to Frers, and the higher end stuff is all done this way - but by high end we are talking $200,000+ for a dinghy and millions to make the mold for a full size boat. Bring that price down and cool things will happen. If you want to talk about it more email me at kevinsch@udel.edu, I'm very interested

That makes 3 of us that have lived on boats a lot.

That would be a fun project. I have yet to do much with cnc machines, but am looking forward to doing new products that way. my email is kzo@kzo.net

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