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  DISCONTINUED -Fire Piston Kit



 
Our Price: $20.00

Availability: Currently Unavailable
Product Code: MKBG2
DISCONTINUED

Description More Details
 
This is best-selling author William Gurstelle's (Backyard Ballistics and MAKE Magazine contributing editor) own handcrafted FirePiston Kit. What does it do? The piston is rammed quickly into the sealed cylinder with a single stroke. The compression of the air causes the temperature to rise rapidly to 260 degrees Celsius, or 500 degrees Fahrenheit. This is hot enough for the tinder on the piston face to ignite. It can then be withdrawn and transferred to a larger mass of kindling to create a fire. Check out Wikipedia for more.

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Features
  • 6x 1/4"ID x 7/16" OD x 3/32"W rubber O-rings (4 are spares)
  • Long, clear polycarbonate or acrylic rod, 1/2-inch diameter -- the piston
  • Short, clear polycarbonate or acrylic rod, 1/2-inch diameter -- the plug
  • Clear polycarbonate or acrylic tube -- the cylinder
  • Ball knob
  • Copper end cap


Average Customer Review: 2.5 of 5 | Total Reviews: 2 Write a review.

  1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 
copper version November 9, 2009
Reviewer: Quentin Arce from Martinez, CA United States  
Based on the notes in this issue of Make I built a brass version of this fire piston.  The brass version works GREAT.   Starts the char cloth every other time or better.

THANK YOU for the project idea.

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  5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
 
Fire piston, too brittle September 1, 2009
Reviewer: Art Jury from Tukwila, WA United States  
We were able to get the char cloth to smolder once and had the piston snap twice.  Nice idea, we will make one from copper pipe next.  I think the cut in the plexiglass makes the piston too fragile.

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