Bill Gurstelle Fire Piston

[staydput]

Well, at least a fire piston works when the sun is down.

Not that I'd want to wait that long.

These methods permit you to persist without matches.

Not a bad idea!

[AcomsRazor1776]

well when you think about it one of the most primitive tribes of people int the world, the Australian Aborigines, are among the first and only people to develop a weapon that returns to you if you miss your target. The Boomerang.

[loswaldo666]

@AcomsRazor1776

Not sure if I would want a Tomahawk missile to come back to me if I missed. Or a bullet, or a grenade, or Napalm or.... well, you get the idea.

[ZA1C3WOLF]

u can also do it with magnify glass just make charcloth

[jwreagan]

I love how you made your fire piston out of a clear material, and how it allows the actual compression/combustion to be seen. I was wondering if you could elaborate on what modifications you did to the polycarbonate rod, what diameter the tube was (internal and external), and how you sealed the end of the tube? Again a beautifu presentation of the "internal workings" of a fire piston.

[hoytheld]

@jwreagan from another vid...it seems that the OD of the rod is 1/2" and the ID of the tube is 1/2". He stated that he "sanded" the rod down on the other vid...plus...he shows that the rod and tube when bought new...wouldn't fit together....

[Abeuss]

its clear.. that is awesome..

[tulius01]

Uh, I wonder if you have ever tried to smear a wee bit of Petrol Jelly on the char cloth or used some Petrol Jelly soaked cotton ball fluff as a tinder. Would it work?

[solorstars]

where you at the make fair? or on the make magazine video on youtube???

[ThomasTheTank142]

i don't understand whats it for?

[jookur]

making fire without friction, using only compressed air. It's over 200 years old, and was important if you didn't have anything to light up fire with.

[ThomasTheTank142]

ohh cool!

makes so much more sense now

[azayles]

It uses high pressure to create a high temperature, igniting whatever's inside the piston

[X3QT0R]

A short detail on the thickness and the diameters of the tube and the rod would have been helpful :)

Nonetheless its awesome.

[crittergetter76]

Cool piston - I like that you can see it ignite. I may have to make one out of polycarbonate.