The popularity of swimming with fins is due to the fact that this simple device allows you to significantly increase your speed. They are found quite often in stores, but by no means always. Fins can be made by yourself. To do this, you need a rubber or even plastic mat, which you can buy anywhere and anytime. An old car tire will do, too.
It is necessary
- - a piece of flat rubber 4-5 mm thick;
- - a sharp knife;
- - a piece of a car or bicycle camera;
- - thick cotton threads;
- - awl;
- - file;
- - graph paper;
- - pencil;
- - ruler.
Instructions
Step 1
Build a pattern. Draw a rectangle about 1.5-2 feet long on a piece of graph paper. Its width is 2 times the width of the foot. Divide it in half widthwise and draw a middle line parallel to the long sides. Cut out a rectangle.
Step 2
Place your foot on the pattern so that the heel protrudes halfway beyond the short side of the pattern. The midline should run down the middle of the heel, arch, ball of the foot, and middle toe. Circle your foot. Bend the corners upward, starting at the intersection of the short cut with the outside and inside edges of the heel and towards the outside of the little toe and big toe. The lines should be straight. On the side of the heel, the fold will be greater, near the toes it disappears.
Step 3
Draw 2 exactly the same rectangles on the rubber. Cut them out. Draw fold lines on them so that one fin is a mirror image of the other. Sand the rubber to remove all burrs, roughness and unevenness. This must be done as even a slight protrusion in the water can injure your foot.
Step 4
Bend the fins along the marked lines. The edges of the folds should point upward and wrap around the leg. Plastic bends great in hot water. The rubber can be cut along these lines to about half the thickness and then bent. If you have a wooden table without polishing, you can do this through tracing paper with an iron. Cut a sheet of tracing paper that is the same size as the rubber rectangle. Align the fold line with the edge of the table. Bend the workpiece at a 90 ° angle and iron the edge that rests on the table. Under the influence of temperature, rubber becomes plastic. Flip the workpiece over, line up the line again with the edge of the table and iron the other part. Do the same with the second line. Shape the second fin in the same way.
Step 5
Cut 2 strips from the car camera, about 10 cm wide and 5 cm longer than the widest part of the foot. Sew from to the side folds of the flippers in the same way as the top of the flip-flops. The strip should wrap tightly around the leg, but the ends of the toes remain open. From the same chamber, cut 2 strips 3 cm wide and 5-6 cm long. Sew them to the corners of the folds from the heel side. The fins should sit firmly on the leg and not slide off during movement.
