Foam popper

[RHenn]

Tied this popper with foam I glued together and turned down with a Dremel tool.

[Uncle Jesse]

Very nice job, I use the same technique using foam from flip flops. My daughter had a pair of white flip flops that were about 2" think which can yield several bodies from one plug. Of course, coloring wi th markers doesn't give the crisp lines of gluing layers together. That bug should produce lots of bluegills and some bass for you.

[ldice]

What would be the best way to cut the foam out? I have tried copper tubing, but they look kind of torn up. That is a nice looking popper.

[Uncle Jesse]

What would be the best way to cut the foam out? I have tried copper tubing, but they look kind of torn up. That is a nice looking popper.

Probably the best thing I have found is the shaft from a wrecked umbrella. If you can find a automatic umbrellas that collapses to a smaller carrying size they are ideal, some have steel shafts, some brass. Either works well if you will chuck it in a variable speed electric drill, an AC powered works bettter than a cordless because they have higher speeds at the top end. Square off the end of the cutter and sharpen the edge, the dremel does a nice final sharpen, deburr. The umbrella shaft will possibly yield two or three sizes of cutter. I found one with a hexagon shaft that worked great.

[Kaboom1]

I bought a set of these....

http://www.harborfreight.com/9-piece...-set-3838.html

I had a machinist buddy turn down the larger sizes to fit in my drill. You can also punch out the 2&3 mm foam the old fashioned way...with a hammer, and glue the disks together. Both methods work well.

Brad

[ducksterman]

The copper tubes should work if sharpened and if you use a drill instead of just turning by hand.

I did exactly what Brad did including the machinist friend.


Also made a larger one by grinding off the saw teeth and sharpening.

[RHenn]

I just glue the foam together, cut the pieces off with a razor blade and turn them down with a tool I got from a place that is not a sponsor here, using an emory board. Here is a bigger one for the salt:

[Gandolf]

Hi Idice,

A very good way to cut such is with a sharp cork borer. This type of tool was used by chemists, and still is in some cases as I still use one from time to time, to cut nice round holes in corks and rubber stoppers.

Go to Ebay and type in "cork borer." You can also find cork borer sharpeners there sometimes. They still make them, and you can buy new ones. The best deals of course are when they sell an old set that they got from a lab that is closing down, or some similar source.

Electric cork borers are available at times, but they might be from somewhat to pretty darn pricy. Hand operated crank ones, that look a little like a cross between a drill press and and a brace and bit, are available, and I have brought one of those home from work, and they do a good job.

If you decide to go the route of the cork borer, the 3mm size is about 1/8 inch, 6mm is about 1/4 inch, 10mm is about 3/8 inch, 12mm is a little less than 1/2 inch, and a big one like 18 or 20 mm is on the order of 3/4 inch. I warn you though, if you use a 18mm or 20mm, it will take a while to cut each popper if you use the manual type rather than a hand crank model.

Another approach is to used a fired hand gun cartridge with the primer pocket drilled out to take a small bolt so it can be used in a drill press or power drill. If you go that route, you may need to make a small slot in the side of the cartridge case so that you can force the popper body out of the case.

No matter what you use, a lubricant like glycern, from the drug store, will help the borer or any cutter to cut more easily. Glycern is a good choice, and is one of the traditional material used for cork or rubber stopper boring, because it works well as a lubricant, and it is water soluble, so water will wash it off the cork, rubber, or foam.

Another thing about boring with a cork borer, or any other borer for that matter, is bore in a bit until it starts to grab or become more difficult to bore, then back out a bit and bore back in and out a time or two to work more of the lube into the slot you are cutting. Sometimes you have to use a plastic dropper to add a drop of lube as you go.

Regards,

Gandolf

[CoachBob]

http://www.harborfreight.com/catalog...q=hollow+punch
Harbro Freight is your answer. This set is $6 and fits any standard electric drill. Much neater than doing it by hand, which I suffered with for years.

[Panman]

The size of the punch would limit you to making small poppers - or am I reading it wrong?

Tim

http://www.harborfreight.com/catalog...q=hollow+punch
Harbro Freight is your answer. This set is $6 and fits any standard electric drill. Much neater than doing it by hand, which I suffered with for years.