can you use UV cure resin on EPS if its sealed well enough?

as you may already know if you’ve been following my health crisis (had a bad allergic reaction to the epoxy/fiberglass sanding mixture, broke out in rashes all over my body)… im thinking that if i will continue to react to epoxy and fiberglass particles as i did this first time, maybe it would be smart to stay completely away from epoxy… moving backwards to polyester resin might be the answer? unless i can react just as badly to polyester as i did epoxy?

my main question is, i’ve read that if you seal the eps well enough, you can laminate with UV cure resin because it will cure fast enough as to not eat into the EPS foam. is this true? i read it in a very old thread from a guy in canada claiming to make boards for $35 using hardware store eps and sealing it with a latex house paint, then using UV resin. can this be done? i want to continue making my blanks out of Eps instead of having to buy blanks that are expensive but i dont want to use epoxy again if i will continue to react like this.

would this help me steer clear of my allergic reactions? or can pe and epoxy have similar chemical properties that can be the cause of my allergy?

thanks for any help.

possible? yes. but that doesn’t mean you should. the boards are guaranteed to be very weak, and look like crap. just get a better epoxy – Resin Research is the way to go. have denatured alcohol and some gojo on standby for quick cleanup. you’ll be fine.

why are they guaranteed to be very weak? could you just use a heavier glass cloth?

a board’s strength comes from the bond of glass to foam. think “I-beam” construction.

the styrene in lam resin will instantly dissolve EPS. so the only way to prevent meltdown is to seal it such that the latex paint acts as a complete barrier between resin and foam. translation…zero bond between glass and foam! it’s just a fiberglass shell with some foam floating freely inside. it’s like you’re starting with a board that’s 100% delaminated – not a very good idea.

sure, it’s cheap…but those materials will last a long time…even if the “surfboard” they used to be is now in two pieces. you really want that sitting in a trash heap for the next 500 years?? not cool, man. surfboards are NOT disposable. build a board that will be surfable for as long as possible…because the materials used to create it are guaranteed to outlive us all.

I read the article by the guy in Canada. i used three coats of latex paint as he specified but the UV resin melted the blank in enough areas to render it useless.

Actually, the main thing im considering now is my health! i dont want to have this reaction again, especially if it is worse than the first time. this rash sucks, and i just want to keep building boards without getting sick. i’ll just need to figure out how i can properly seal my self off before i try sanding again.

Quote:

a board’s strength comes from the bond of glass to foam. think “I-beam” construction.

the styrene in lam resin will instantly dissolve EPS. so the only way to prevent meltdown is to seal it such that the latex paint acts as a complete barrier between resin and foam. translation…zero bond between glass and foam! it’s just a fiberglass shell with some foam floating freely inside. it’s like you’re starting with a board that’s 100% delaminated – not a very good idea.

sure, it’s cheap…but those materials will last a long time…even if the “surfboard” they used to be is now in two pieces. you really want that sitting in a trash heap for the next 500 years?? not cool, man. surfboards are NOT disposable. build a board that will be surfable for as long as possible…because the materials used to create it are guaranteed to outlive us all.