With the pending closing of Waldron, and what seems to be a drastic increase in the price of their punch and die sets due to the pending scarcity, has anyone found a practical alternative for those small sizes?
to make holes: pin vice. to make very small circles of plastic: mechanical pencils.
Just out of curiosity, I checked RollModels last night and their prices on both punch sets hadn’t changed. My suggestion would be to bite the bullet and order them now before they do become really expensive. I’ve got both and am now lookin at Historex punch sets (especially the Hexagonal set)
hi man[:D]-- please expand on the mech pencil theory-- i’m getting images of replacing graphite with styrene-- is that correct?
I’m not getting it, either…[?][%-)][#wstupid]
just use it like a punch. pull the graphite back, put the metal part on the styrene sheet and press down.
That’d have to be some thin plastic, and some tiny styrene circles… LeeMitchellTree once gave an example of a home-made punch set… maybe it you guys are lucky he’ll drop by and give it again.
I vaguely remember that homemade thing, but that’s not really an option for me since mumbles I tend to hurt myself with just using tools, let alone trying to make some. I thing I’m going to just have to bite the bullet, since trying to create really small circles in other ways has so far been an exercise in frustration.
If you want one, get ti now, saw ad in current FSM Waldron is going out of business due to ill health of owner
Yes, I saw that ad in the last FSM, which was what prompted this post.
At one point I was thinking, why would I ever need that? … but after coming across numerous situations where it would have been really, really nice to be able to make very small circles of styrene, be it for ships or aircraft, I bowed to the inevitable.
When Waldron goes, I’m sure some other company will make a substitute.
Dave
Which Waldron set do most people use?
The WR0019 Sub Minature set or the WR0018 Precision Punch set?
I wonder how this set will work?
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=47734
I use a leather punch. The kind with the handles and wheel. It has about six different sizes on the wheel and one just rotates the wheel to the disired size.
No resaon that should not work. Only problem is the size. The 1/8" may be practical for some instruments… maybe the 3/16 if you are doing soem large scale.
There was sometiong one time about making a set from drill bit shafts, plexglass and a hockey puck. Anyone rememeber that or better yet… have the plans?
Found this Mini Punch Set, by LF Tandy, at AC Moore for $8 this morning. 5/64 the smallest up to 11/64. Just a metal barrel with changeable tips.
The small one worked great for cutting out small instruments. These instruments are the smallest ones on a Mike grant 1/48 IP decal sheet.
So I have to revise what I said in the previous post. 1/8” is huge. The instruments in the pics are about ½ that.
That’s one reason I decided to bite the bullet and get Waldron’s miniature set, but could not afford both it and the subminature set - when you’re working in 1/72 airplanes and 1/700 ships, it is easy for those really tiny details to end up looking out of scale and quite silly.
Marc, that’s a great find, I’ll be checking out my local ACMoore, thanks for the info.
Geez, there’s an AC Moore right down the street from where I live…definitely have to stop in there and pick up a set of those. Thanks, Marc.
What is this AC Moore you speak of? Are there any in Ohio? what brand was that little tool? I must get one!