well, cross, looks like you might have become sensitized to something in the epoxy–hopefully it’s not one of the “universal” epoxy chemicals, just something in that particular brand…Resin Research (RR) is supposed to be one of the cleaner, mostly non-volatile eppoxies out there, I would suggest working with that in the future…
read through alot of the old epoxy posts…there’s some good qualified advice in there about what’s happening to you, how to prevent it, ways epoxy gets into you…one of the compsand guys a while ago (MrJ?) was sensitized, and continued to work with epoxy, using very careful methods…
A few things I picked up…
Avoid all solvents around epoxy. don’t use anything to clean it that "thins"it at all, ESPECIALLY ACETONE because then it can go right through the skin. The best way to get rid of liquid epoxy is to emulsify it in something…liquid dishsoap with no water added works well. paper towel off the excess epoxy, then squirt dishsoap over the area, and scrape or brush off–I use a scrub brush by the sink. don’t scrub too hard, that may cut the skin, letting some in anyway. the idea is to surround the epoxy in the soap, the soap renders the surface non-sticky, and getting rid of it is easier.
I’ve heard that a vinegar rinse is a good idea as well…the reasoning as I understood it is that the acid neutralizes a lot of the chems in epoxy, which are very basic (I think that’s what causes the “burns” it’s caustic) So I rinse my forearms after working, then soap and water.
There’s a product my local plastics place (Tap) sells called replacetone, which does the samee thing as the dishsoap but better. it’s more like water, and I’ve heard of places that have big buckets of it, just brush your tools off into the bucket, the resin sinks to the bottom, and can be filtered out…
but you shouldn’t get it on your skin at all…
or breathe it at all…
I use double gloves, put one pair on and pull them up over long sleeves, then put the other pair on with some talc on the inside pair, makes changing gloves real easy. then change them every time you get sticky. I remember one remark that a box of gloves is still cheaper than a can of acetone…I go through tens of pairs a board. one common area of contamination is on the inside of the wrist–when you go to whip off a single pair, you put a little dab of resin on your wrist as you reach for the flange of the glove…right over all those veins in your wrist, right into the ol’ bloodstream. Double gloves, you just hit the next glove, but try and pinch it above the flange anyway.
and getting the sanding dust on you is probably at least as bad as the liquid…there’s still plenty of uncured molecules hanging around, and the glass cuts into anything it touches…sand wet when possible, and dress well for the affair…
i’m just a backyarder, but I’m kinda paranoid about becoming sensitized, so I read up on it…I’m sure there’s others who can give a more qualified safe working practices rundown, but I think it’s already in the archives, plenty on the net too.
Good luck with that, I’m afraid you are going to have to put your project away for now, clean up thoroughly,(glove up for the cleaning,too) and rid your house of the still-curing board and all the leftover epoxy until you figure out whats rashing you up. One reason for the continuing rash is that you may be reacting to trace amounts that may have gotten all over…Huck out all the clothes you were wearing, unless their nice, then wash in vinegar then launder. scrub every surface you touched while sticky–trips to the bathroom? fridge? computer keyboard? change your sheets…
Don’t mean to scare, but two aspects are kinda rotten, once you are sensitized, even small amounts can set you off, and successive reactions can be worse and worse, eventually becoming respiratory in nature.
I wouldn’t worry too much about this initial one, just get over the rash before you continue, and stop immediately should it reappear. go see the doc if it gets any worse or doesn’t go away.
Buen suerte,
wells