# Looking for plans for a "fire piston"



## ScrapMetal (Oct 2, 2012)

I've always been fascinated by fire pistons and now that my son is in Boy Scouts I thought he might get a kick out of having one for their camp outs.

Fire pistons are of a fairly simple design and that I could probably cobble something together that might work but it would be nice to start with one that is "tried and true".  I would prefer to make it out of brass but I'm open to other metals/alloys as necessary.

Anyone have a design to work with?

Thanks much,

-Ron


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## jumps4 (Oct 2, 2012)

these are not plans but enough info to make one
steve

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q...l&id=A3CAE433743D25F6DC993E6904283C6C6AE1C686


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## Tony Wells (Oct 2, 2012)

Ron, there was a discussion on madmodders about a couple of versions. Maybe some hints there.

http://madmodder.net/index.php/topic,4772.msg71355.html#msg71355


http://www.instructables.com/id/Illustrated-amp-Detailed-Guide-To-Making-A-Fire-/

http://www.minifirepistons.com/easy.htm

http://www.primitiveways.com/fire_piston.html

http://www.onagocag.com/piston.html

http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/webprojects2001/osullivan/fire_piston.htm


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## Hawkeye (Oct 2, 2012)

Ron,

I had never heard of a fire piston before, so I went looking. I found numerous listings on Google. I want one! I particularly like the one made from an aluminum 2-cell pocket flashlight because it has space to hold the tinder. The clear plastic ones are cool, because you can see the flash as the tinder lights.

For a really nice brass one, it wouldn't take long to adapt some of the U-tube ideas to come up with your own.

Thanks for posting this. One more for the list.


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## Rbeckett (Oct 3, 2012)

Scrap,
Have you been watching "Survivorman 10 days" or "good eats", seems like both just had little blurbs on just exactly what youre talking about.  I figure you could turn one out of just about any kind ot bar stock if you really wanted a slick one.  You could knurl the barrel and screw a mushroom top on the piston and it would come out really nice.   That would give you inside boring, turning, knurling and threading practice in one project and the design is very forgiving if you make something too loose or the O-ring too deep.  You could whip up a bunch and sell em to the local trail and outdoor shops too.   You could do sguare stock and different metals and maybe even screw a hollow piston together so you could stash a tinder rag inside and keep it dry.  Lots of possibilities for a really neat project or two.  You could also mill a couple of flats on the barrel and drill a hole in it for a key chain fob or ring.   You could also go high tech and do one in alli and anodize it once you get it machined and knurled, or just put a coat of clear on it and keep the natural color.  Lots and lots of simple possibilities, quick, easy to make, inexpensive and usefull too.  Doesn't get much better than that....
Bob


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## ScrapMetal (Oct 8, 2012)

Thanks for the input guys.  I've seen a couple of those references but some are new to me - all of it is welcome information.  Bob - Nope, haven't seen a lick of it and I'll probably make a few extra but if they go anywhere it'll be for some of the other Scout members.  I've seen a number of fire pistons on the web that are commercially available but I have no interest in competing with them.

Sorry for the slow response.  A little health issue has sent me for a loop the last couple of weeks and made my participation a bit erratic.

I'll be sure to post when I get a design worked up and, of course, as I start to build/experiment with it.

Thanks again,

-Ron


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## Hawkeye (Oct 8, 2012)

Un freakin' believable. I made up a fire piston out of a pocket flashlight. Wooden piston, sprayed with some clearcoat, with an O-ring. I sealed the end cap with epoxy and used some silicon grease as lube. It didn't seem to do much, but I went ahead and made some char cloth out of old blue lean leg.

The second push had it glowing. You do have to push hard and fast, but it works.

Fun thread, Ron. Thanks again.


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## ScrapMetal (Oct 8, 2012)

That's good to hear Mike (and pretty cool as well).  There may be hope for me making something that actually works. :biggrin:

I know that the whole thing is based on a pretty simple concept (application of Boyle's law if memory serves me) but it's still kind of amazing that such a simple device can create ignition using nothing but air pressure.

It would be kind of neat if more people picked up on this thread and we had everyone creating their own designs of fire pistons to bring to "show and tell".

Thanks,

-Ron


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## Bill Gruby (Oct 8, 2012)

Here ya go Ron.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Illustrated-amp-Detailed-Guide-To-Making-A-Fire-/


  "Billy G")


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## ScrapMetal (Oct 9, 2012)

Thanks Bill.  I do like a number of the aspects of that design - especially the tip of the plunger, although I would make a semi-spherical cut to hold the O-ring (and maybe some other minor changes).  I won't get into a build using wood parts though as that would get messy and I'm not particularly tooled up for that kind of wood working.

Hawkeye - It occurred to me that you didn't include a pic of your fire-piston.   There is also a magazine I get called "Make Magazine" where they feature all kinds of build projects like the one you described doing.  You might consider submitting your fire-piston project to the magazine as it's all about "re-purposed" stuff.

-Ron


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