“Endless Sinter” 3D Printed Tribute to Classic Single-Fin Surf Board, via 3ders.org:

“Endless Sinter” is Karten Design’s tribute to the classic single-fin surfboard, popularized during the rise of surf culture in 1960s Southern California. Inspired by the wave patterns created when swells from the Northern and Southern Pacific converge—producing ideal surfing conditions—“Endless Sinter” features a unique hollow frame constructed from overlapping sets of concentric rings. A thin strip of dark walnut wood sweeps down the board from its nose to its tail, creating rich visual contrast against the off-white body. Continuing the same wave-inspired graphic element, a single fin protrudes from the bottom side of the board.

“Endless Sinter” is the first surfboard of its kind to be 3D-printed. Its name is a play on the classic surf film title, “Endless Summer,” and the special process by which it was fabricated, called Selective Laser Sintering. Karten Design partnered with SciCon Technologies in Valencia, CA to implement this additive manufacturing technique, which laser-binds materials together one fragment at a time, allowing for maximal customization while minimizing waste. By introducing this technique to the surfboard design process, Karten Design was able to realize a distinct, elaborate design that would be nearly impossible to accomplish using traditional hand carving methods….

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Every Thursday is #3dthursday here at Adafruit! The DIY 3D printing community has passion and dedication for making solid objects from digital models. Recently, we have noticed electronics projects integrated with 3D printed enclosures, brackets, and sculptures, so each Thursday we celebrate and highlight these bold pioneers!

Have you considered building a 3D project around an Arduino or other microcontroller? How about printing a bracket to mount your Raspberry Pi to the back of your HD monitor? And don’t forget the countless LED projects that are possible when you are modeling your projects in 3D!

The Adafruit Learning System has dozens of great tools to get you well on your way to creating incredible works of engineering, interactive art, and design with your 3D printer! We also offer the LulzBot TAZ – Open source 3D Printer and the Printrbot Simple Metal 3D Printer in our store. If you’ve made a cool project that combines 3D printing and electronics, be sure to let us know, and we’ll feature it here!