Making a mandrel for turning cork, foam and balso bodies.

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

Here is how I made a mandrel for my dremel. Takes about 5 - 10 minutes. I have a keyless chuck, which I picked up from Home Depot for about $15 and love it; one less wrench to have to keep track of and it lets you chuck different diameter shafts just like your hand drill. You know, I was thinking about the needle thing mentioned later on in someone's reply and I realized that leather makers use a trilobal needle for a lot of their work. I used to use them when I did taxidermy - guess you could go somewhere like Tandy Co or another leather goods place to find them???

 

Kirk

 

Start with 3d finishing nail, 1 1/4" long. Chuck it in the dremel with the head out.

 

Turn dremel on and holding a steel file, move the spinning nail back and forth to file down the head to the nail's shaft diameter.

 

Turn nail around and chuck it point out.

 

Turn dremel on and holding the steel file, move the spinning nail back and forth to file down the nail to approximately half the original diameter, the original nail is to fat to go smoothly into cork and foam.

 

Use a medium diamond sharpening pad or similar to put a triangular point on the mandrel. This creates three cutting edges, which facilitates impaling the foam or cork onto the mandrel and I think helps keep it from spinning.

 

Impale your foam piece, cork bottle stopper or balsa onto the mandrel and turn it on medium speed. Lightly touch the popper material on a medium grit sandpaper. Putting to much pressure can cause the material to grab and spin around the mandrel and fly off.

 

Sand to desired taper.

 

To make the narrow waist for a hula popper, fold the sand paper so there is a rounded bend to the fold. Run the body on the rounded fold of the paper to sand a waist in the body.

 

Any questions, feel free to ask. You can see some of my finished Hula Poppers in my Hula Poppers post under The Fly Tying Bench forum. http://www.flytyingforum.com/index.php?sho...mp;#entry409104

 

The following is being posted so NJ won't cut off his fingers - I'll follow up with words later on, like about putting the weedguard on to give the glue more to hold on to in the slotted body. I hope it is okay to post so many pictures, I may just get kicked off this forum for bogging it down??

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Curtis Fry 0]

Very nice! Thanks!

[BrianMyers 0]

Are you filling the hole made by the mandrel in? If so , with what? I though about doing something similar but was going to try and hot glue the cork to the end of a dowel to avoid having to pierce it with a mandrel then finish shaping the glued end by hand after removing it.

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

Are you filling the hole made by the mandrel in? If so , with what? I though about doing something similar but was going to try and hot glue the cork to the end of a dowel to avoid having to pierce it with a mandrel then finish shaping the glued end by hand after removing it.

Brian, the mandrel is not very large so the hole is minimal, it basically "heals" itself, but I've never noticed a hole needing filling. I haven't actually tried it with balsa, being harder and less giving, balsa may need filling. I would fill it like I do the cork bodies.

I fill the natural holes and imperfections in the cork with Elmer's interior/exterior wood filler, which is water based. I put a little in a snap lid jar and mix with a little water to the consistency of loose mashed potatoes. I then use the cheap platic bristled brushes and brush it into the holes and hook slot. When dry, sand smooth.

 

Kirk

 

[Harold Ray 0]

That's just neat as can be!! I was wondering how you shaped the cork, and when I glanced down the threads here you are. Thanks!!

 

How are you attaching the legs to the hook, and are you using the regular soft rubber legs like we get from FlyTyer'sDungeon, J Stockard and other sites?

Fly Tyer's Dundeon

 

Thanks!!

 

Ray

[Dart 0]

Icredible! I have to do this. It may be a few weeks... but you'll see some from me eventually. Thanks for the tutorial, Kirk!

[smallieFanatic 0]

Thats neat!

[flytire 0]

a sewing needle wouldnt work?

 

[Stippled Popper 0]

A sewing needle of the right diameter treated the same way Kirk describes would probably also work. However if you left it as is, the cork would tend to spin around the needle which would be counter productive.

[NJFlyMAn 0]

Where does one buy the cork bottle stopper at? And also how do you attach the hook to the cork? This is all new to me, but I just love the looks of them, so I'll try it.

[Harold Ray 0]

Where does one buy the cork bottle stopper at?

 

You can buy new or used, usually wine, corks by the box, a few to hundreds, on ebay. Wine Cork Auctions, ebay Buy all you want often cheaply!!

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

Harold, I take the leg material and fold it over the thread making five or six wraps around that center point to secure it to the hook, if I'm doing legs to splay off the side, I secure them to each side, usually two legs to a side which makes four legs. If I'm doing a tail like on the hula popper, I attach them to the top of the hook and then take the half of bunch facing forward and pull them back and make additional wraps over the bunch.

 

Flytire, don't see why a needle wouldn't work if you did something to the shank to prevent the body from spinning such as the trilobal sharpening or perhaps roughening the shank with a file??? Plus, the needle is more tapered fat to thing, the mandrel is more of the same diameter, I think with that cone shape, the cetrifugal force could walk the body off the needle - it happens sometimes to the mandrel I have pictured but not often. I may give it a try, I have some of those big needles. Also, I like the consistent diameter of the nail shaft to go into the chuck for a pretty secure fit.

 

NJ FlyMan, I get my bottle stoppers from Jann's Net Craft but I may have to check out that ebay site. I cut a slot in the cork and super glue the hook in the slot after wrapping the shank with thread or not if using a kink shank hook.

 

I'll have to do some pics on the above leg tying and cork glueing.

 

Kirk

 

 

[Harold Ray 0]

Kirk,

 

How about adding those pictures or links to them (pictures preferred : )) to this thread so we will have all of the information together. I am making this thread a favorite so I can find it again. You've got some great ideas, Kirk, thanks!!!

 

Ray

[Harold Ray 0]

I decided to post images of Kirk's Poppers on this thread, too, so we can have all the info in one place. This is really a great thread I don't want to lose. You've really started a great discussion, Kirk!!

 

 

From Kirk on Raised Eyes:

 

Thanks Dart and Flytyer. Hard bodied bugs are the first things I tied twenty five years ago when I began tying and then I got into other flies as well, lost everything in Katrina and just did, this winter, get back to my roots of hard bodied bugs. I love fly tying and tying foam bugs for surface fishing but hard bodied bugs hold a special place.

 

The raised eyes are pins with little plastic ball heads, a friend of mine calls them map pins but I think map pins have larger plastic ball head. I find these in the sewing section of Wal-Mart in two sizes. I clip most of the pin off leaving only about an eight of an inch attached to the plastic ball, which is used to stick into the body after which a drop of super glue is placed where the pin head contacts the body.

 

I don't know that the fish really care, but they do look cool, espcially with frog legs on the back. I'll have to post a pic of one of those guys.

 

Kirk

[Harold Ray 0]

Another question, Kirk, how are you doing your painting and what brand are you using?

 

Ray