The Hollow Punch Set - purchased a 12-piece hollow punch set off eBay for $8.90 including shipping. (Type 'hollow punch set' into the Search box to see examples.)
The goal is to be able to create fly bodies out of foam by punching out long cylinders of foam in various diameters. A secondary project is to find what the best foam is for these punches. And hopefully that foam will come in all kinds of buggy, fishy colors...yeah, right.
The first attempt was to try to punch out orange foam swimming pool noodles from Wally World. Abject failure as the foam needs to be cut by something much sharper than these punches. The act of twisting the punch to cut the foam ends up shredding the foam a bit. Definitely not a clean, long or dependably produced cylinder.
Went to the local generic dollar store and found some flip-flops that were in a perfect shade of stonefly orange, couldn't have hit the color better if I dyed them myself! Also got a second pair in black. It's important to find foam that is the same color throughout the sheet.
Punched out two cylinders from a black flip-flop, one about 5/16" wide, the other an impressive 3/16". Both cylinders are about 1/2" long, the thickness of the material. The smaller diameter actually looks better. One of the faults of using the punches manually is that you tend to get wobbly cylinder sides.
You really need a drill press to best use these punches. (Can anyone suggest a really inexpensive drill press mount? I have a regular 3/8" hand power drill.) I haven't tried a power drill yet to rotate the punches, but that's my last hope without resorting to an alignment device to make the punches true.
I am sure there are other kinds of foam I should be trying. Any suggestions?
I did make one important discovery. I have a piece of black foam packing material I had saved from some sort of long-forgotten product box. It is made of five sheets of 1/8" high quality black bubbly foam laminated together. Not sure what they used for the glue.
Using the 5/16" punch, I was able to twist out a decent looking and usable plug of foam. This stuff has a paper backing on one side, which helped finish off the hand-cutting process. Makes me curious how much better a drill press would do. Definitely would be faster.
Cut out multiple cylinder plugs, then glue two or three end-to-end to form the maximum length you would ever need for a bug or attractor body. Trim and shape as needed.
Haven't gotten to the fly creation stage, yet, but the process is interesting.
Some thoughts:
1. The better, more pricey sets of punches are probably honed sharper. Obviously the sharper the edges, the better the cut foam.
2. If you are careful, I am sure you could use your power drill to rotate the hollow punch, honing the beveled cutting edge on a whetstone. Insert the punch into the drill bit, and guide the rotating cutting edge over a whetstone. Clamp everything down for safety. Wear safety goggles.
3. I really would appreciate any other suggestions or sources for usable foam. I am going to try to find a source for the laminated foam. If the fishing gods are smiling upon me, they will also manufacture the foam in white.
4. Is there a readily available product that would act as waterproof spray or thin brush-on glue to laminate sheets of foam face-to-face?
Wes Wada Bend, Oregon
“The flowers of life come to everyone. One has to be ready not to miss them. Mine arrived after I was 90.”
~ Compay Segundo, musician and singer of the Buena Vista Social Club passed on, July 14, 2003, at the age of 95.
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“The flowers of life come to everyone. One has to be ready not to miss them. Mine arrived after I was 90.”
- Compay Segundo, musician and singer of the Buena Vista Social Club
passed on July 14, 2003 at the age of 95
