EPS with epoxy stringer...how to?

Hello all,

I want to make an EPS board with a thin stringer made of epoxy resin down the middle. The last board I tried this on, I routed out a thin space for the epoxy stringer, but the RR epoxy I filled in the space ended up getting really hot and melting the foam. It was a disaster…I want to make this work, any ideas on how to pull this off?

dustin

For starters, don’t rout out the foam, just stick them together with the epoxy. Tape off each side of the foam (about 2") to avoid drips getting into the foam, then stick the two sides together and clamp like you would if you were using regular glue. Pull the tape as soon as the resin sets a bit and you’re done. I’ve used carbon fiber for stringer material and don’t recommend it unless you’ve got a good respirator and full body coverage including gloves and something over your head and neck. That stuff gets into everything and is VERY itchy! If you’re not putting cloth in the “stringer” you may as well use gorilla glue or any other polyurethane glue as the epoxy by itself, just like GG, won’t be adding to the structural integrity of the finished board.

Any pooling of Epoxy Resin will heat up. Use only thin applications of epoxy resin to avoid it.

Why not split the blank down the middle and do a thin glue line, or glue in an 1/8" plywood stringer?

Doug