Making holes in foam - help needed!

Craft Talk
1

Ok - this is a long shot but I thought it was worth a try.

I want to make some holes in two types of foam sheets, the first is a cheap camping sleeping mat about 0.5-1cm thick, fairly stiff foam and the other is the blue type of foam they sell for upholstery, about 2cm and 5cm thick, which is a lot softer.

The holes need to be circular, roughly 0.5 -1cm diameter and fairly uniform - drilling won’t work as the foam is too soft and will just tear. I thought maybe a hollow punch of the type used for leather work might be the answer but before I splash out on tools for experimentation I thought I might ask here just in case someone has the definitive answer!

Thanks all
Roz

2

I think you are right, hollow punch, would give a clean crisp cut. Otherwise ,something hot would melt and seal a hole, but it would be smelly and might change colour.

3

Roz I have a packet of punches that might be of some use to you. I will post a photo at lunch time and if they are any use to you I will send them. :smiley:

4

Just tried it Roz on some upholstery foam 1.5" thick. Push down through the foam before whacking it with a hammer, not completely even but may be good enough. The camping mat should work as it is much more dense.

DSC01660 (640x480).jpg640×480 199 KB

Hazel

5

Roz the punches I have spare are to make holes 1.6mm, 3.2mm 4.3mm made by fiskars

<img src="//cdck-file-uploads-global.s3.dualstack.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/folksy/original/2X/c/c9bad4285d1f4d4bd776b460fe8545ee00fad750.JPG" width=“300” height

Rachel

6

I know this sounds a weird suggestion but have you tried a soldering iron. I find it useful for quite a lot of things. The only thing with that is you have to have a very steady hand otherwise you may end up with misshaped holes.

7

Thanks all for your suggestions. Hazel @leathermeister, thanks for trying that out for me - looks like it will do the job - do you know what make your punches are. I have read many reviews and some seem to complain they are not very sharp. Thanks Rachel @Glehcar but I am not sure whether the punches you have would be big enough for what I have in mind.

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8

Roz, the one I used was a cheap non branded set of punches and a big hammer. I just use a standard household hammer and a solid table and whack hard. If you are just going to do a few holes buy a cheap set and a heavy hammer otherwise you would use the type of punches we use by Dixon tools which can be £50 each.

9

Thanks - think I’ll go for the cheap option first!

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