MagLite Fire Piston - goinggear.com

[squirrelhunterjay]

did you take your wiki page down

[goingprepared]

@squirrelhunterjay Yeah, we had problems with the host.  I'll try to put it back up eventually.

[shexdensmore]

Hey, Im watching that episode. Thats why i am on here right now.

[svj308]

Finally, a good use for a mag light!

[gatorrr83]

I tried this and failed miserably lol. I just bought a rose mountain fire piston. They're alot better haha

[nchiker1971]

Excellent idea! I have dozens of mini mag bodies laying around, now I can finally repurpose them into something useful. Thanks!

[jmg1957]

peace

[rileyrileyrileyz]

try some sex lube

[SHTFSurvivalist]

Good one man!

[zambatoo]

You know they sell 50 pack cases of disposable lighters on ebay for like $15

[flavioscorpions]

works : watch?v=-0f-KcGxMgY

thanks

[uddoss]

good job..i tried to make a fire piston myself..not with a mag lite..

but i need to say..it's pretty difficuilt to get a fire piston to work..

so i am very impressed..how you got it done..

[Bullshitbuster1]

Thats how a Diesel-engine works

[seanmulhall]

Great idea to make a piston out of. Im going to take some of your ideas for the next one I try to make. Thanks for posting and linking your video.

[sledgehammer60]

i have been trying to make a fire piston ...i have been tryin to make the cylinder out of a copper tube.i have not been able to get a good seal.i saw your video and im goin to try this.i do have 2 questions.how much is the rubber pluming peice at the end and does lowes carry this

[Dem0D1ck]

@sledgehammer60-Copper sounds like a great idea, but use pipe, not tubing. Try soldering a copper cap on the end, that should seal it up good. Oh, and make sure you clean the inside thoroughly to remove all the solder flux. As for your piston, have you tried using an O-ring to complete the seal?

[DELTAFORCE1981]

Lol Les stroud would be jealous..hahah. thats an awesome idea man and very ingenious I m thinking about making one myself., oh and Les stroud is awesome and a canadian boy. amen.

[Capnwabbit]

It's good an all but if you have to wreck your torch then hardly practical...

[angelamylove]

bravo dude

[MajesticChicken]

That was pretty sweet brother!

[frank1847]

ffs get a lighter.

[light24bulbs]

clever. you just know what you're doing and that shit was awesome. 

[admiraltyisland]

Now that is clever, great job!

[admiraltyisland]

Now that is clever!

[admiraltyisland]

Now that is clever!

[Fianna10]

cool

[countryyt]

Hi,

Great idea! I built one but I can't get it to light.  I need some help with it please. Got it all put together and only got it to produce an ember once out of about fifty tries any ideas? It seems air tight. I push the rod in and it will pop back up. I checked the end cap for leaks with soap under pressure and no bubbles . Any help would be great.

[goingprepared]

@countryyt What are you using as tinder? Char cloth? Be sure to push down hard on it. I have to put all or most of my weight behind the push to get it going reliably.

[countryyt]

@goingprepared Thanks for the reply. I am using homemade char cloth from a cotton t-shirt. Tried with partial weight, full weight, single push, double push and still nothing. It seems like it should work but doesnt. I am using the aquaseal washer from Ace hardware. I have also tried slightly burned cotton balls and no luck. Not sure what else could be wrong. Best Regards

[fosterr2010]

@countryyt

I maid one and it works great. I get an ember nearly every time.

In response to contryyt, it may be the cotton that you are using to make your char cloth from. Many 100% cotton items have been treated with chemicals to make them more stain resistant or more fire resistant. I chose a very old cotton t-shirt that had been worn and washed so many times that it was full of hols. Probably it was either washed enough to removed them or it was just so cheep that it had none.

[countryyt]

Hi,

Great idea but I need some help with it please. Got it all put together but it does not light the char cloth. Got it to produce an ember once out of about fifty tries any ideas?

[tijuanamarisol666]

interesting...

[cheekyfumes]

Ingenius!  Thanks!

[stpete78]

Dude, survivorrye, I seriously doubt it was meant as a jab at Les. Take a chill... It was meant as a cultural metaphor. Like when a bodybuilder says, "those guns would make Superman jealous!" I hardly think it would need to be stated that superman is fictional and can lift a mountain. The point is... This is an awesome and innovative instructional. Period.

[bsavalon]

how does a piston work

[tigranvartanovitch]

@bsavalon Laws of physics. It works like the pistons of a diesel engine. If you increase the pressure, the temperature will increase with it. The idea is to get the pressure so high that your tinder will ignite. Look up the Ideal Gas Law, and check out the equation pV=nkT or, if you prefer, pV=nRT. That's why it works.

[ArtisanTony]

What was the plumbing part number. I could not find it on the wiki. Thanks!

[SurvivorRye]

Yeah, Les Stroud would be so jealous of a guy on youtube without his own shows on network TV seen by millions and millions of viewers.

Totally.

I'd say he might be proud, but not after a comment like that. =)

[Cirtemeca]

Les Stroud would so be jealous

[devilspieceofmind]

do you think you could make a mini mag light fire piston that would still work as a mag light if you could that would be a good thing for a survival trick

[goingprepared]

@devilspieceofmind Maybe, but it might be kind of tough since you have to cut into parts of the light.

[Cirtemeca]

Try wrapping a light layer of thin duct tape around the batteries to use as the dowel replacement. That way the light could still function as well.

[slowtaknow]

same here i have an led version that stoped working and now i have a purpose for it,thankyou

[MyDisasterBlog]

This is perfect, I have an old mini maglite that I was going to get rid of...re-purposing is a great thing...can't wait to make mine, Thanks!

[new5orleans2saints1]

Hey man thanks for the info, cost about 11bucks and worked beats paying for the 85 dollar ones they sell.

[astrozam]

Now this is original, and I happen to have this exact flashlight lying around, thanks for the great idea bro.

[vikingbush]

he didnt invent the firepiston if thats what you are talking about

[pimpinpenz]

haha what if you use diesel or veggie oil on like cotton?

[swordofdixie]

I've seen the "experts" pumping fire pistons before but I've never seen one ember up on the first pump! Dang it, man! Great job! I've never wanted to put together a fire piston before until you showed us how easy it is. Thanks a lot.

[suschi15]

sorry i canot vry good english..what is that??

thx for answer

[gfpfan]

well done video, thanks

[notreallydaedalus]

I love it! What a great idea!

[darwouine]

YEEEEEEAAAAAAAH BABY

[Loki95531]

Now that is a proper way to channel McGuiver. far out! I just upgraded to the 3watt led version so now I can use the old one for something useful. rock on.

[FezTube11]

Les Stroud would be jealous, hahaha!

Nice.

[kewldudesweet]

@FezTube11 i am...

[905nathan44]

nice vid. I have been trying to make a fire piston using a piece of hollo bamboo tube and i attached numerous things to a dowel to try to make it air tight. I can't seem to be able to get my hands on that plumming piece so i have tried tape, twine, and eaven marker caps. the hole in the bamboo is about half an inch. nothing i use is air tight. can you help me with things that can make this bamboo hole air tight. thanks.

[goingprepared]

It might be the bamboo fibers themselves. Maybe try heating up some wax and rubbing it on the inside to help seal up any gaps between the bamboo fibers. Epoxy or something similar would probably also work.

[teb0atoz]

@905nathan44 Take some cord, e.g. and rub int in bear grease, any greesw will work LOL, then make a grove near the end of the piston ~1/4" and then insert it into the tube and strike.

cheers

[bestSVMS]

could you use charcloth with a few drops of gasoline or achol

so that you would get a actul flame, so that you can kind of skip the tinder bundle and ignite some manmade stuff

that would be cool because it would be like a awesome lighter, but could be used traditionaly if you run out of fuel

and a couple drops in a bottle would go a long way

can someone try it?

[TheHarleyhillbilly]

great video

[destroyersteak]

lol les stroud realy would be jealous

[hunteddown848]

thats sooo tite!!! can u make a tutorial on how to make one? and what kind of wood is tht, and wut u use for an o ring??

[Ggreenvideos]

Great idea man...thanks for sharing it! I also had a hard time making a nice smooth cut on that diaphram. they were $3.77/pair at home hardware.

[Ggreenvideos]

That seal is a diaphram for an aquaseal cartridge part#3234-020 at home hardware(Canada) I'm in the process of making one now. I was going to try a steel piston mainly because I have a steel shaft that fits rite in, just have to cut it to length. Do you think that might work?

[goingprepared]

Yes, it would work great. The only reason I used the aquaseal part was because the wood dowel was impossible for me to seal and an air tight seal is very important.

Using steel, delrin, etc. would allow you to cut a channel into the rod and use an oring in the channel instead of the aquaseal part on top.

[kumili727]

lol "Les Stroud would be jelous"ha ha

[askAlanNow]

3:53 He would be.

[goingprepared]

Just be mindful that porous woods like what they use in dowels might not work with that method since the air will just flow around the leather, despite how much you seal it (that is what I tried first). You could get around this by using a more oily and tight grained wood like cocobolo, which usually works very well for fire pistons. You could also make a leather cup on top of the piston, instead of in a groove, so you would not have to worry about the wood's porousness.

[ComradePepper]

or just bring a lighter

[efletch91]

Wow. That's really pretty damned cool. I have a broken maglite and I started taking it apart and whatnot already. But for the seal on the end of the rod, I might do what you did or I might put a little bit of traditional throwback in there and make a groove to wrap some of this leather strip that I have left over from a purchase at a craft store and maybe set the wrap together with some modern materials like soak it in some sort of sealant. Very cool. It's almost made for you by maglite!

[goingprepared]

Sure it would, people have been using similar tools for thousands of years.  You just have to have the right tinder, like cattail or fluffed up bark.

[mgv357]

But what is it for? That little ember wouldnt start a fire.

[danofslate]

Dude!! You.... Rock!!! I'm totally giving this a shot next camping season!

[Naesch]

I finally got my own one working. Thank you for the idea! Great video! Keep going!

For the plunger i used a PVC rod instead of a wooden rod for my version of the maglite fire piston. Unfortuntely i wasn't able to find such a plumber rubbing piece in a hardware store here in Europe so at last i created a small notch around the rod to fit a little o-ring into it. It's working fine as well! Normally i'm getting an ember the first try with it using char cloth as tinder! Great thing!

[TelEvangelistHentai]

Dude, awesome, i love how you just sound totally honest and dont try to imitate an FM announcer.

[snooganz430]

Very creative. I got a busted AA maglite around somewhere I might do the same.

[cheekymonkey69er]

Nice 1 man, very impressive!

[pawel330]

impresive handmade

[Hervorragend604]

Excellent video! And a really awesome idea, too. You explain things quite well. If I still had my 2 AA Maglite, I'd totally make one of these right away, but my brother took mine and either lost it or wrecked it, or both. I was planning on getting a new one sometime soon, anyway, so maybe I'll make a fire piston out of it.

[HMharrisonmurray]

great video 5/5

[MidnightGrunt]

LOL 2:11 BOOP

[homemadealcoholstove]

um, the tailcap is actually supposed to release gas produced by the alkaline batteries... so...

[goingprepared]

Yeah, I figured out that it is a one way valve after I made the video. :)

[elpidi79]

I just completed my fire piston but it was a failure. The body is airtight (no bubbles in water) but I can't get an ember. Two questions...

(1) I don't own a lathe so my piston isn't as smooth as yours (it's snug though)...is that a problem at all?

(2) I used Break Free's CLP as a lubricant on the washer alone. Should I lube up the piston also (for whatever reason)? Did you have the same problem with the other lubes before you went to the 100% synthetic grease?

I just want an ember...

[marlo916]

"les stroud would be jealous" hahahaha! fucking brilliant. les is pretty cool tho.

[elpidi79]

I'm in the process of building my fire piston but I just had a great idea (which actually worked out). I just replaced the clear plastic screen in the head with an small magnifying glass (exact diamater and circumference as the screen). Now, there are two fire-making sources inside this one Mag Lite. I suppose this could also be another complete alternative to the fire piston also where you could use the eviscerated Mag Lite as a complete storage system for lots of charred cloth.

[goingprepared]

That is a great idea! Thanks for the heads up.

[elpidi79]

Nice. I just printed off the wiki tutorial page (23 pages). I was so excited that I happened to have the small MagLite (which never worked well--just never threw away [glad I didn't]) and I've been studying numerous fire making techniques lately. Thanks for posting both the video and the tutorial!!

[greenpete]

Excellent video!

Well presented and filmed, all very clear.

The wiki is excellent too, great work, thanks!

[goingprepared]

Thanks! The wiki is open for anyone to edit (except for a few pages), so feel free to add anything you think might be useful to others regarding the outdoors.

[anthony9thompson]

I love it

[linsleyk]

wow Les Stroud would be jealous. good work.

[iamtorcman]

Any word on the Solitaire version?

[goingprepared]

I'm still working on it. :(

The design on the inside is a lot different than the 2AA version, so I want to still make one that people can reproduce without the heavy bench tools that I have.

[maxdadsfan]

I was wondering if you sell any of these items. I usually don't like to build things, just buy them. By the way, I'm maxdadfan; I have more than one account.

[goingprepared]

I am working on setting up a website to sell related stuff, but hadn't thought about selling these. If enough people want them, I would be willing to sell them.

[DKongfreak]

Hi, it's maxdadfan under a different user name. I have this pen knife sharpener. I took out the sharpener and did my best to get the tube airtight. Now all I need is something 1/4" in diameter to use as a piston.

[maxdadsfan]

Hey. I don't have a mag lite. I was wondering if you could possibly spare some of your time and find out how to make a fire piston with a standard Bic pen. I have plenty of them and wish to have an inexpensive but efficiently working piston. Please post a video. Thank you for all your time.

[goingprepared]

I think that might be a bit beyond my skill level. Bic pens are not very structurally sound and could break under the extreme pressure needed for a fire piston to work. I would hate for someone to be injured because of something I posted.

[maxdadsfan]

I understand. I just don't have a whole lot of things to use to make a fire piston. I normally use fire steels, but they run out. In fact, my sl3 knife broke in half within 4 months. I just want a fire starter that is inexpensive but lasts a lifetime.

[buzzswoop]

Thanks for the great idea and instructions. I just made one from a Maglite i found in the river and $3.50 of hardware. I got coals the very first try! And i never used a fire piston in my life! This is going on all my outings!

[goingprepared]

Haha, I'm glad you like it. I am not sure how practical it is though, so you might be better off with a lighter and a few firesteels. It sure is fun to make and play with though. :)

[buzzswoop]

Yes it is always good to have back up fire, i always have 2 means of fire on me and know the bow drill well also! But it is always fun to try new ways. The challenge is half the trip!

[goingprepared]

Haha, I'm glad you like it. I am not sure how practical it is though, so you might be better off with a lighter and a few firesteels. It sure is fun to make and play with though. :)

[meanjellybean5]

pretty sweet

[samsonje]

Just looked at your detailed instructions - great job. I'm a fire piston freak and love this - j

[UrbanMage79]

Thanks for this. Thats the next few hours killed...

[shiznit62]

this is brilliant! i have a 2 AAA maglite that's broken and now i have a good use for it. i also have 2 other maglites that i don't plan on killing at the moment but this is a great idea! thanks, i think i'll make one today.

[iamtorcman]

I wonder could a Maglite Solitaire be converted in the same way?

It would be neat to have a fire piston small enough to put it on your keychain.

[goingprepared]

I don't see why not. I think I have a Solitaire lying around, so I'll try that in the next week or so and post back with the results.