3D printed news 3D printed surfboards made of Paradoxal surfboards will be made of green algae

Paradoxal Surfboards is a project led by a young Frenchman who wants to make surfing more respectful of our environment. Jérémy Lucas envisioned 3D printed surfboards designed with more environmentally friendly materials, rather than those from the petroleum industry. In other words, from the green algae washed off the coast of Brittany, he developed a material compatible with 3D printing. Therefore, he can recycle the waste in the ocean and create value. We met with Jérémy to learn more about this project and his future plans.

Hello, my name is Jérémy Lucas, and I am a 32-year-old entrepreneur and surfer from France. I am the founder and owner of the Paradoxal Surfboards project. Basically, about ten years ago, I discovered the joy of surfing on a road trip in Australia. A few years ago, I first heard about 3D printing in a professional media article focusing on new technologies. At the time, it looked so futuristic and inaccessible that I didn't have more interest in it.

Then in 2019, I decided to create a mechanical design office in Douarnenez with my partner at the time. Under the name FL3D, we mainly do two things: industrial design, CAD, for boiler manufacturers, metal workers, sheet metal workers and other professionals; in addition, because we have installed Ultimaker 3D printers in a small office of 9 square meters , We can meet very specific personal requirements. It is difficult for us to make this second activity profitable.

Since this is a relatively time-consuming technology, our vision is clear: either put into mass production and have a large number of machine parks to meet industrial needs, or launch predefined products with high added value.

It was in December 2019, and some colleagues and I went surfing on the Ris beach in Douarnenez during a storm. On that day, there was swelling and backwashing. Chlorella was everywhere on site (unfortunately a phenomenon that often occurs in this city). I went into the water several times during the meeting. When I got out of the water, I was not in good condition: headache, vomiting, plus I was in bed for two days. I have an environmental trigger and tell myself that it is time to take action to reduce this green algae phenomenon in our scale and in our way.

There are more and more green algae on the coast of Brittany (Image source: Reporterre)

A week later, when we personally delivered the 3D printing order to our office, a customer asked us the source of the materials used for 3D printing. We told her that it is mainly plant plastic, oil-free, and PLA. Then, apparently well-informed customers explained to us that the PLA we use is made of corn sugar, which is very gluttonous, in fact, it destroys specialized biodiversity areas (also GMOs by the way) .

So we decided to consider making a new thermoforming material for 3D printing. From this though, why don’t we start with Chlorella? But what can we print from the material? Recalling last week’s surf lesson, the connection was very quick: “We will 3D print surfboards with stranded green algae!”.

We decided to name this project "Paradoxal Surfboards" for several reasons: As explained by colleagues at YUYO, we used this initiative to answer the "surfer's paradox". Through his practice in the open air, this person agrees to a sports vision that more respects the environment, but has no choice but to use petroleum composite materials (neoprene wetsuits, polystyrene or polyurethane plates, gloves, belts, etc.)

The goal is not to use materials from the petroleum industry to make circuit boards

The "contradictory" is also because we re-evaluate through this project, rather than "upgrade", stranded green algae are regarded as waste and exist across the coast of Brittany. In the logic of "cradle to cradle", we will use these wastes found in the ocean to make sports equipment, which will replace the oil usually used to make surfboards (PU or EPS) and return to the ocean in time.

People don't know how to deal with this bad material with negative commercial value, except that it (once collected, processed and stabilized) is mixed with other green waste as field fertilizer to supplement the production system, which seems to be suffocating.

Without specifying the amount of algae collected each year and the amount of seaweed required to make a single surfboard near us, Paradoxal Surfboards can neither prevent nor treat, but propose a new value evaluation suggestion. The large amount of "waste" discovered in Brittany seems to be an excellent substitute for the petroleum-based products (toxic, non-recyclable and from far away) that make up surfboards in almost all cases.

On the day when there is no green algae, we will be interested in making planks out of stranded plastic (unfortunately, this number is even more incredible). We are currently studying the possibility of 3D printing surfboards with recycled fishing nets (from the beach).

The blueprint is simple, and once established, it is relatively complicated to implement because it requires a certain amount of skills-three things are essential to complete this project:

Design Circuit Board-Industrial Design-CAD:

Designing a 3D printed surfboard from a blank page is not easy. We must find a balance between relatively innovative designs, that is, use the right amount of printable materials within a certain production time to achieve a certain production cost, while considering the performance of the board, its final weight, and balanced load distribution, there is almost no post-production. . The business model depends on it.

3D printing and creating new materials:

After the design is complete, the circuit board must be printed with suitable materials (in a large-volume 3D printer). On our first prototype, the core of the board (replacing the traditionally used foam block) is printed in two parts, which will be hot-cut afterwards. It is very complicated to set up the printing parameter, need some iterations to obtain the final product with the highest performance.

On the first prototype, we used PLA. A new thermoformed material is currently being developed, based on the combination of green algae powder from the beach and recycled Dyneema from sea racing boats, and is currently being developed for future models.

Print the board prototype on a large-format 3D printer (photo source: Paradoxal Surfboards)

Once the internal structure is printed, the circuit board must be sealed by covering it with fibers and then absorbing it with resin. This is the lamination step. For the first model, which has fairly large structural units, the range of fibers is an issue. Therefore, we initially relied on the reverse lamination process of CNC machining the mold (the reverse form of the plate) in order to be able to integrate the structure and then laminate it. This relatively complicated step is the result of close cooperation with several engineers and technicians specializing in Brittany composites.

Although it is currently time-consuming, 3D printing is still a low-energy technology that can realize structures with very complex designs, which is almost impossible for artisans to achieve in traditional ways. In addition, 3D printing allows the use of multiple materials with different characteristics. We are inspired by the world of life, bionics, and the structure of green algae, to be more precise. Since the mission of our project is to 3D print surfboards with stranded green algae, we found that the idea of ​​designing the internal structure of surfboards inspired by biology is very cool. We are currently developing a new design, which is still inspired by the same bionics concept!

3D printing also allows us to print equipment related to circuit boards. For example, we 3D printed the core of the dagger board with cornstarch, and then laminated them with recycled carbon from ocean racing boats such as the Vendée Globe.

Until March last year, Paradoxal Surfboards was an internal entrepreneurial project carried out by Douarneniste, a young start-up company I co-directed. Unfortunately, it no longer exists today. The project has suddenly slowed down, and my biggest challenge may be to make it "continue" as a simple project leader rather than as a company.

Another challenge is to successfully formulate this new type of thermoforming material in the green seaweed on the beach. Complex regulations, financing, testing...There is still a lot of work to be done. But there is already a complete network centered on the creation of the first board, and I continue to develop the project by blindly advancing.

Thank you for reading this article and/or sharing it! On the same occasion, I would also like to pay tribute to our colleagues who worked well at Wyve Surfboards. They inspired me to develop this beautiful project and are an important motivation for implementing this huge challenge, which includes making surfing more respectful of our environment in its concept and manufacturing process.

What do you think of Paradoxial Surboards and its 3D printed surfboards? Tell us in the comments below or on our Facebook and Twitter pages. Don't forget to sign up for our free weekly newsletter, all the latest 3D printed news will be sent directly to your inbox! *Thumbnail photo source: Paradoxal Surfboards

Join the discussion and tell us your opinion.

This is certainly a good effort, but little progress has been made on the work started about five years ago? When we printed the first circuit board, we already had a highly invasive algae thermoplastic. https://magicseaweed.com/news/the-worlds-first-3d-printed-recyclable-surfboard/10324/

Started manufacturing electric cars about a hundred years ago. In an era where instant gratification is the norm, we have to endure... the captain

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