Home Depot EPS ?!?!

[xtricity]

in SF Bay Cali Home Depot, 4' x 8' x 2" Insulfoam is $18.37 a sheet plus 8.25% sales tax.  :-(

You might be able to go cheaper if you get normal surfboard blanks and  use polyester resin.  The epoxy resin is much more expensive.  You have to use epoxy with EPS.  The polyester resin will melt the EPS.

[bracicot]

Yeah, the white ice chest stuff is expanded.  You can tell expanded styrene by the look of the beads in the foam; extruded foam has a much tighter "grain" to it, with no evidence of beads at all.  I think it is much nicer to work with, myself;  I used to make windsurfers with it a while ago and loved it.  Never had any bonding problems either, so I don't know about those comments I've read in Swaylocks about that.
No pics of the board yet, since I'm just now glueing the foam onto the stringer.  I'm using the "theboys" method from swaylocks (alluded to by Allan in one of the other posts in this thread) and it's working great.  I'm making a 10'6" board, 28.5" wide and 4.5" thick, and there is more than enough material in three of those 4x8 sheets of foam.
Just how do you post pics here?  When I click on the "insert image" icon, I just get the [img] thing.  Do you type the location of the pic on your hard drive between those  "[img]" thingys?

bruce

[Rand]

Just how do you post pics here?  When I click on the "insert image" icon, I just get the [img] thing.  Do you type the location of the pic on your hard drive between those  "[img]" thingys?

Hi Bracicot,
You will need the pictures to be at an online web address to post them.  It will likely be easiest to use a free service like www.photobucket.com for picture hosting.  Then, when you are posting here, just copy/paste the URL of the photo, highlight it, and click on the insert image icon. 

Hope that helps!

Rand

[bracicot]

Yeah, that helps a lot.  Thanks. 

bruce

[Allan Cheateaux]

You might be able to go cheaper if you get normal surfboard blanks and  use polyester resin.  The epoxy resin is much more expensive.  You have to use epoxy with EPS.  The polyester resin will melt the EPS.

 Yes, it is more expensive, but you use 35-50% less resin. It also stays more ductile and ding resistant. I glass all my stuff with epoxy now, even poly blanks.

[boots]

I glass all my stuff with epoxy now, even poly blanks.

When glassing poly blanks with epoxy, do you use the same amount of glass as you would using polyester resin? Do you find that the epoxy resin is less prone to pressure dents? Do poly blanks glassed with epoxy come out lighter than poly blanks glassed with polyester resin?
Thanks for your help

[Allan Cheateaux]

short answer..
no, yes, yes

[goomba271]

A solid block might be a better option than gluing up thin panels.  The associated gluelines can be a bother.

Several densities are available via special order through Home Depot.  The local store carries "Insulfoam" brand.  I was able to purchase a 2' X 3' X 12' block but it wasn't easy.  The sales guy at the special order desk was clueless.

I did the whole hotwire/rocker profile thing and although a bit of extra work, was stoked to be able to do it from "ground zero."   Shaping the squared off rockered slab was quite a  battle. 

Your location is unknown but if I may suggest, contact Ken Ebert at Segway Composites in Southern California and have him do a stock machine pre-shape on one of his blanks for you.  It costs a bit more but he uses good foam and you will have a big jump start on your project.