- Joined
- Sep 7, 2010
- Messages
- 205
So I thought I'd try my hand at making a fire piston. (Like how hard can that be?)
I had on hand some 3/8" aluminum bar stock and slightly larger aluminum tubing. The two fit together very nicely. I cut a piece of tubing 5" long and a piece of bar stock 6" long. I flared one end of the tubing and screwed a cap on the other end and sealed it with JB weld. I cut a small groove in the bar stock to fit a rubber "O" ring. I also drilled a small hole in the end of the bar stock that goes into the tubing for tinder. The two fit together very snugly with no leakage at all.
But I can't get it to fire...Anything, not even a match head. The only thing I can think of is that it's too large a diameter. In other words I'm trying to compress too much air, and I don't have the strength to do it. I've seen guys make them out of 1/4'' material on youtube, But I didn't think an extra 1/8" would make that much difference.
Can anyone help me out with this? What did..... or am I doing wrong?
I had on hand some 3/8" aluminum bar stock and slightly larger aluminum tubing. The two fit together very nicely. I cut a piece of tubing 5" long and a piece of bar stock 6" long. I flared one end of the tubing and screwed a cap on the other end and sealed it with JB weld. I cut a small groove in the bar stock to fit a rubber "O" ring. I also drilled a small hole in the end of the bar stock that goes into the tubing for tinder. The two fit together very snugly with no leakage at all.
But I can't get it to fire...Anything, not even a match head. The only thing I can think of is that it's too large a diameter. In other words I'm trying to compress too much air, and I don't have the strength to do it. I've seen guys make them out of 1/4'' material on youtube, But I didn't think an extra 1/8" would make that much difference.
Can anyone help me out with this? What did..... or am I doing wrong?