Poor mans lathe... Scratchbuilding with a Dremel

[Steve H.]

I recently made up some deflated airbags for my current project. Here's a simple technique for doing it.

cut out several squares of .040 plastic, drilled out the center and mounted them on a Dremel mandrel.

I used a very small triangular file to shape them, along with an emory board to soften the edges. While they were still on the mandrel, I applied some Testors liquid cement to lock them down. To cover the hole, I punched out some circles from .010 plastic and glued them on.

[MonoPed]

If it works, go with it!

[Wildrice]

Also heard of people using o-rings for airbags too.

[Steve H.]

Also heard of people using o-rings for airbags too.

Yeah, the tiny ones used on your kids braces. I have some of those floating around somewhere, just didn't think about them for this project.

[GTmike400]

Yeah, the tiny ones used on your kids braces.

No, those rubber bands are for shooting at kids in class off the end of your pencil. I bought some small RC O-Rings to do airbags before.