What am i doing wrong??

[launditch1]

Had a play on my woodlathe today and made a fire piston.I carefully turned and drilled each part and spent a long time getting the 'o' ring to fit properly.tried it without tinder see what the compression was like..It was good,couldnt push the piston right down.

Put my charcloth in the cup on the end of the rod,sharp push+pull......Nothing....

Whats gone wrong??
Please help me!

Or point me to a thread about these..Thanks people.

 

[Ogri the trog]

Had a play on my woodlathe today and made a fire piston.I carefully turned and drilled each part and spent a long time getting the 'o' ring to fit properly.tried it without tinder see what the compression was like..It was good,couldnt push the piston right down.

Put my charcloth in the cup on the end of the rod,sharp push+pull......Nothing....

Whats gone wrong??
Please help me!

Or point me to a thread about these..Thanks people.

Nothing wrong that a few hours tinkering and a sore palms for days on end won't fix.
My first homemade one took about a week to get going.

Keep at it.

Ogri the trog

 

[launditch1]

I see its going to take a bit of practise!
Does the piston rod have to be the same diameter as other part(Dont know the name..)?

 

[Ogri the trog]

From the little that I know of the topic,
The rod needs to be of a size (and the bore of the cylinder of sufficient finish) where, without the O-ring, it seals enough to allow the rod to fall slowly without snagging, but falls smoothly to the end. Then when you add the O-ring it shuold be good to go.

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[Gailainne]

Just to check, did you use super glue/similar to seal the tube at the bottom ?, seems even the slight porosity of wood can cause problems.

I had a go using aluminium tube, great fun, worked first couple times then stopped, I have a leak somewhere

Cheers

Stephen

 

[alpha_centaur]

I thought it was supposed to be push, pause, pull rather than push and pull.

Saying that I've never tried a fire piston so I've no right to comment on this.

 

[Ogri the trog]

I thought it was supposed to be push, pause, pull rather than push and pull.

Saying that I've never tried a fire piston so I've no right to comment on this.

Thats right,
but just like the pause in archery, "it is more percieved in the mind of the shooter than seen with an eye of the observer!"

ATB

Ogri the trog