--My attempts at making Fire Pistons well and truly happy--

[steve007]

Ive always wanted to have ago at these and one day i was a tad bored and thought id give it ago to say im happy is a understatement i made some char cloth to test them and they fire up every time ive another one im tinkering with but for now ive made 3
the left one as a compartment in the top to store char cloth and lube
the middle one is just a standard piston the right is a smaller pocket size version


http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff134/stevetheslayer/fire piston/photo1.jpg

 

[ex-member BareThrills]

Very nice mate. Good skills.

 

[Mesquite]

Nice, fire pistons are fun way to start fire with

 

[British Red]

Blimey - they are a bit smart

 

[steve007]

i did engineering for a few years when i left school the hardest part was getting the right compression that took some time and messing around with different o rings

 

[steve007]

thank you so much everyone its alot easier that a bow drill i tell ya lol

 

[mountainm]

They're great. Are they steel or aluminium?

 

[steve007]

They're great. Are they steel or aluminium?

there made from aluminium and i polished them up to look shiny lol

 

[grumit]

Very nice all you need to do now is send them to me lol

 

[steve007]

i dont mind doing a swap or something which one do you like
i like the one on the right as you turn the piston rod around and it slides in to make it compact im thinking of putting screw thread on the end and make a cap so it can store tinder and lube

 

[Nomad]

Nicely done. How tight is the seal, and what did you use for lube? Does it need a push to get the piston to slide into the cylinder, or will it slide down under its own weight? I made one ages ago, but I suspect it's too tight - bounces on the air suspension.

 

[grumit]

Like them all they look realy well made you thought about making one with a cap in bottom of the tube for char cloth and one in piston for lube

 

[steve007]

yep that was my 4th design with 2 caps 1 top one bottom but i didnt want to make to to long thats why i did the compact version
the first one on the left can already hold char cloth also lube
The lube is in the screw cap and the char cloth is in the piston part

 

[ozzy1977]

Very nice work

 

[steve007]

thank you very much

 

[Clouston98]

Great work mate!

 

[steve007]

thank you