Duckster,

I tried several different things that I already 'had' around before seeing the light and getting the needles that Jim uses from WalMart.

They are in the fabric/craft section, and mine came in a three or maybe a four pack. They are short, about 2 1/2 inches as Jim noted, and run around a buck or two. Fit perfectly in the collet and stay centered.

I've also used some sharpened 1/16 inch drill rod, the same size drill bit, and some untempered welding rod (THAT didn't work very well).

Seems the 'taper' of the needle is important. Adds to the holding power of the mandrel. The straight shank mandrels I tried all worked to an extent, but left too large a hole and seemed to loose friction more than the needles do.

But, the big 'key', as Jim keeps stressing, is the foot switch. I tried it without for several dozen attempts. Couldn't get the foam plug to keep from spinning. The hole glazed too quickly and the plug became a bearing.

You can easily rig one of these if you can use a drill and attach wires to components. I made one out of a momentary contact switch from Radio Shack, a metal gate pull (to mount the switch through), an old extension cord, a duplex outlet I had handy, a cheap plastic box for the outlet (less than 50 cents at Home Depot back then), and a piece of 1 X 6 about 12 inches long. Took about twenty minutes to build.

I can plug ANYTHING that needs a momentary contact foot switch into this, but it was made for the dremel lathe and lives on the floor under the fly tying bench.

You really do need that foot tap contol to do this properly.

By the way, some times the foam plug will want to spin, no matter what. Don't despair, just add a drop of CA glue to the mandrel and reposition the plug. Wait a few seconds for it to cure, then turn the body. It will break loose easily and you can clean the mandrel off with a razor blade.

Good Luck!

Buddy