The post about the blockhead popper got me to thinking about some pieces of 2mm craft foam I had laying around so I decided to try to make a popper similiar to one I received from Rick Z some time back.
So I took a size 10 3665A Mustad limerick hook which I got from Harley Bob and used an 8mm shell casing to punch out some pieces of foam.
If you look at my results you will see that the foam is not as smooth as I would like. I doubt the fish would care but does anybody have any tips on how to make a better foam disk. Can it be sanded?
Tim
For the small poppers (size 10), I use a paper punch from the office store. It will punch through 6-8mm of foam with no problem.
Yes you can sand them. I like to use a nail file ala Jim Hatch.
Hope this helps
Brad
wow i never thought to use a bullet shell!!! im gonna go sharpen the edges of a 45-70 shell and use that!!! ive always wanted to make some foam poppers outta flip flops, but never could figure out how. ill try this.
I use foam cut from lobster bouys for my poppers
For the cutter I use a section of copper pipe
I find that the copper needs to be sharpened often to get a smooth cut
I took Dudley’s advice and used a small whetstone to sharpen the shell casing. I then punched out a couple of rings and found that they were much smoother and will require very little if any sanding.
If you want to produce a lot of those style of popper, you might want to try gluing the foam together before you punch out the bodies.
You can cut various colors of the 2mm craft foam into strips in your choice of size, laminate them together with contact cement in the color combinations of your choice, then punch out the bodies in bulk.
Faster and less messy in the long run than using CA glue to put each body together, and the bodies come out ‘neater’. The edges are exactly aligned and little sanding/shaping is needed if you just want a cylinder popper.
Just a note: I have cut many a chunk and many a sheet of foam for popper heads and fly bodies and lure lips etc. I never “Punch” them out. I have sucessfully used various metal and plastic tubes as foam drills. I have found that the better way to cut the foam is to sharpen the outside edge of the tubing to a knife edge sharpness using a file or stone, push as you twist the tubing through the foam; by hand and or using a drill. The twisting cut is sort of like drilling. I do this against an inexpensive plastic cutting board as a backer. Touch-up the edge of the tubing as you go to keep the cuts in the foam clean.
Just another way to do it and probably something many others here do to…
Also I’ll mention…it’s hard to beat a drill press…also I find that sharpening the tubes on the inside gives a little smoother cut [no burs ,lips, etc…the cut out makes it easier to get the plugs out…
I think Jim Smith said that he puts a small bolt with the bolt head inside a shell case through the primer hole (drilled out) and then tightens a nut on the bolt to the base of the case. Then sharpens the case mouth and puts it in a drill to drill foam cores. I have been using the above tube method but may try the shell cases sometime. Drilling the foam cores gives a smoother cut than trying to cut them by hand as the above link shows.
I got the pictured idea from Jim Hatch…the idea is not to have to remove the brass punch from the drill to get the foam out.
I wonder if there’s a problem with getting the foam plug out of the shell casing?
The plugs do sometimes project but you have to stop the drill each time…with the pictured tube or with the Harbor Freight punches you can do several plugs at a time…
If your useing a drill press,(which I highly recomend) I suggest you set your depth, so the cutter stops about a 1/64 to 1/32 of an inch from cutting thru the material. That way you wont have to stop the drill press and the plug will stay put in place as the cutter is relaxed and the material is moved to the next position. You may also find the cutter cuts easier as it heats up a bit from continual cuts. When your ready to tye a bug simply pull off the precut slug and trim as nessery. You should be able to precut a complete pair of flip-flops in under twenty minutes. Depending of course on the size of the cutter your useing.
You know I’ve read that before [about stopping short} but I guess I didn’t quite understand the “storage” aspect of it…most of the time you have to trim anyway…Thanks
Another way to keep the plug attached to the material is to ‘tilt’ the table of the press slightly.
That way you can drill ‘all the way’ through but still leave a portion of one edge ‘attached’. These are easier to remove when a plug is needed. Only takes a few degrees of tilt to do this.
In any event, personally I like the Harbor Freight punches. Cheap, functional, sturdy.
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ive always wanted to make some foam poppers outta flip flops, but never could figure out how. ill try this.
