Tool shadowing

[MfgEngDave]

Has anyone done tool shadowing with foam? I am currently lining all our calibration tool boxes with foam and I am using the Dremel Versatip to cut the foam. It is basicly a hot knife with an exacto blade attachment. It cuts like butter! The problem I have is I want to do a bunch a varying sized circular holes for ring gages but dont want to rely on my unsteady hand to cut them. Any ideas on what to use or how to punch these holes out?

 

[MadMango]

Hole saw? Perhaps metal tubes of required diameters and sharpen one edge to make punches?

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of these Forums?

 

[MfgEngDave]

Thank you mango

yea i was thinking about getting some punches fab'd up in the shop, i have too see what we have in raw matr'l. I would probably need a piece of wood to put under the foam. I dont know how well a hole saw would work, would like a nice clean cut.... would love to here some more options!

 

[MintJulep]

Put your gages in the oven and get 'em red hot, then take 'em out and lay them on the foam.

They'll melt their own perfectly matched holes.

Or possibly slightly more practical..

Store them "on edge", then you only need to cut rectangles.

 

[MfgEngDave]

heating them would not be possible, these are being used as I do it. Also putting them on edge will not be an option as some of these rings are in excess of 6 inches in diameter

 

[MadMango]

Depending on the type of foam, a hole saw works really well. Is there any way to conduct a test?

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of these Forums?

 

[MintJulep]

Cookie cutters?

Fashion a simple beam compass for your hot knife?

 

[BillPSU]

If you have access to a waterjet it cuts foam beautifully at the max cutting speeds.

 

[MfgEngDave]

I could try a hole saw on a piece of scrap, but Im not sure if it will grab and tare the foam apart. Th beam/compass style jig is nice but probably a little bit bulky for my application. No water jet but we did just get a nice new plasma table from AKS!! Reguardless I cant use that either. I do like the cookie cutter idea, I may be able to get some sheet metal and make an adjustable "cookie cutter" sharpen the edge possibly heat it up a little? I may also take into consideration mint juleps original idea of standing some of them on edge, the ones that fit that way to save some real estate. Thanks guys I think I have enough to get me started, I will post some pictures later if any of you are interested.

 

[mcgyvr]

I've used some circular metal cups (I turned then on a lathe) which I drilled a hole in the bottom of the cup and stuck my soldering iron in that hole and allowed that to heat up the cups to use to bore holes before.