How to make rings and discs in 4mm?

[Lee-H]

What do people use to make SR headcode discs and other tiny discs and rings suitable for 4mm scale? I have a number of projects on the go and am thinking of buying a leather hole punch tool with several sizes but will this give me perfect circles or will it just chew up the ‘waste’ bit that I want? Happy to use either brass or plastic. Any advice gratefully received.

[sjp23480]

Lee,

 

I use a leather punch - I think its a Draper - produces round chits which can be a bit tricky to recover from the punch.

 

Larger rounds can be produced using a regular paper hole punch, which may be a better size for SR indicator discs in 4mm?

 

Steve

[t-b-g]

Not particularly for SR headcode discs but when I need anything like that, I either punch them out of plastic sheet with one of the multi sized leather punches or I cut a thin slice from the end of a brass rod or tube with a fine piercing saw blade, then rub it on very fine wet and dry to give a smooth surface.

 

With a bit of practice, you can get very thin slices indeed.

[jonhall]

Or if you want the easy way https://www.roxeymouldings.co.uk/product/463/4a109-sr-locomotive-headcode-discs/

 

Jon

[Londontram]

I got one of these sets a few years back and get on very well with it the open slot in the punch lets you carefully push out any disks made in card or plasticard.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6-x-HOLLOW-PUNCH-Belt-Leather-Hole-Gasket-Card-Wad-Material-Circle-Cutting-Tool-/283499028618?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l6249&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0

[Lee-H]

5 hours ago, Londontram said:

I got one of these sets a few years back and get on very well with it the open slot in the punch lets you carefully push out any disks made in card or plasticard.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6-x-HOLLOW-PUNCH-Belt-Leather-Hole-Gasket-Card-Wad-Material-Circle-Cutting-Tool-/283499028618?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l6249&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0

Many thanks for the tip. Looks like a useful set.

[david65061]

If you want to make small rings, you will need to wind some wire around something of the required diameter. So, you end up with the wire spiralling  around your core, much like a spring. Cut a single turn of the end and then solder the ends together to make a ring. It is really quite simple but rather difficult to describe with out diagrams.

[Lee-H]

15 hours ago, david65061 said:

If you want to make small rings, you will need to wind some wire around something of the required diameter. So, you end up with the wire spiralling  around your core, much like a spring. Cut a single turn of the end and then solder the ends together to make a ring. It is really quite simple but rather difficult to describe with out diagrams.

Many thanks. I’ve tried this method and managed to achieve some acceptable results.