Making your own poppers

[dixieangler]

From my experience, when I make (tie) a foam popper using the foam sandal (or flip flop) and using the copper tube method then the type of foam (as long as its floating foam) does not make a difference since I am not shaping the foam (only cutting foam cores). But when I want to shape foam on the Dremel or other tool by rotating a foam plug, the foam does make a difference. To shape foam, I need to make sure the foam is actually closed cell foam (rough in texture throughout) and not foam rubber (smooth in texture). If I tried to shape foam rubber (or a foam with a higher content of foam rubber) then the foam piece would glaze (loose friction, smooth out and spin) on the needle mandrel when I tried to spin the piece. The closed cell foam works for shaping because it has friction on the mandrel so the piece will rotate without spinning on the mandrel. There are many different kinds of foam, closed cell foam (floating) along with foam rubber, open cell foam (sinking), styrofoam, etc.