The Clock Making and Home Machining Blog

Make: Fire Piston Project

11/6/2015

There are many ancient techniques that can be used to start a fire. The most well known would be the friction based methods like a hand drill, or bow drill, as well as the percussion based methods like striking flint and steel.

Another most unusual traditional method is the fire piston... Read More

Download Free Plans:
Fire Piston Inch Units
Fire Piston Metric Units

43 Comments

Josh

10/30/2015 04:32:05 am

I'll never be able to make one of these but boy would this one be useful in the near future. I guess it's another dream item.

Chris link

10/30/2015 05:35:52 pm

Great to have you watching Josh.

Cheers,
Chris.

Josh

10/30/2015 08:45:57 pm

Now if only I could buy one of these from you. But will always keep watching. Love what you're doing with that skeleton clock.

Chris link

10/31/2015 08:53:44 am

Hey Josh, if there is enough interest, I might do a limited run of these some time in the future.

Cheers,
Chris.

Chris link

6/1/2017 05:07:34 pm

Hey Josh,

The Fire Piston is now available for sale here: https://clickspring.myshopify.com/products/the-clickspring-fire-piston

Cheers,
Chris.

Thomas

10/30/2015 07:50:45 pm

Thanks for making this movie, Chris. I enjoyed watching!

Chris link

11/2/2015 08:11:57 am

Great to have you watching Thomas!

Desmond

11/2/2015 01:35:28 pm

Beautiful work eh, do you think it would be fine without to just make the body .500" longer and skip the end cap altogether? Does the bore get very dirty? Thinking of turning a few of these for my friends and that would take a process out eh.
Thanks

Chris link

11/2/2015 03:41:41 pm

Hey Desmond,

Yes it would definitely work fine like that, and in fact that's how they were traditionally made. The bore gets a build up of soot and char cloth over time, but its no big deal.

The thing you'll miss by not having the end cap is the ability to clean the bore, and the release of pressure that permits the piston to be stored inside when you're not using it.

Cheers,
Chris.

Matt link

11/3/2015 11:57:12 am

Would like to purchase one of these from you if you do choose to sell a few. Always looking for another firestarting tool to share with my scouts! Thanks for the high quality instructions and video.

Chris link

11/3/2015 04:33:27 pm

Cheers Matt, thanks for watching!

Chris link

6/1/2017 05:08:37 pm

Hey Matt,

The Fire Piston is now available for sale here: https://clickspring.myshopify.com/products/the-clickspring-fire-piston

Cheers,
Chris.

Robert

11/4/2015 09:17:20 am

Hey Chris, Great Work. Any chance you could share the solidworks part files? I have access to CNC equipment and would love to make one. That gets me one step closer to a tool path. Love you channel and you do beautiful work.

Rick

11/8/2015 05:18:58 am

All your videos are of outstanding quality and your workmanship is
Impeccable .

Chris link

11/8/2015 05:37:49 am

Hi, great video! I made one of these a few years ago and made a video and posted some info on my website http://www.raynerd.co.uk/?p=1150

I found however that I really need to hit it very hard to get a lit pad. Yours looks fantastic, great job.

Julio

11/15/2015 03:55:48 am

I will definitly be interested in them if you make them, suggestion is to implement a ferrous rod as well in the piston shaft and starter on the para cord end.

Chris link

6/1/2017 05:09:28 pm

Hey Julio,

The Fire Piston is now available for sale here: https://clickspring.myshopify.com/products/the-clickspring-fire-piston

Cheers,
Chris.

Robert

11/17/2015 03:09:05 am

Beautiful videos and great work. Started making a set of 10 for gifts on my CNC mill. Interesting using a mill as a lathe!

Chris link

11/17/2015 01:44:10 pm

Awesome Robert! Be sure to send me through some pics when you're done!

Cheers,
Chris.

Simon Cowen

11/18/2015 02:42:53 am

I would buy one too, they look excellent.

Chris link

6/1/2017 05:10:07 pm

Hey Simon,

The Fire Piston is now available for sale here: https://clickspring.myshopify.com/products/the-clickspring-fire-piston

Cheers,
Chris.

Joe Gaitens

1/26/2016 04:19:49 am

This is a great video. I came across the one you did on the 'impossible' dovetail joint and was very impressed. Upon watching it I thought 'I wonder if this guy could machine a fire piston?'. I've tried several times in the past to make a piston out of available materials (tubing, pipe, dowel rods, o-rings) and have had no luck. I clicked the link to the click spring projects site, and, like and behold, there was a fire piston video right there. I don't really have access to the machinery to do it this way (nor would I have the skills), but it's a very impressive video nonetheless. Very inspiring. I'll be watching more videos from this great site in the future. This link is for the first video I saw of a fire piston being made:
http://youtu.be/5NKq4ChNOew
Nice to see both methods, but still frustrating I haven't had any luck yet :)
Keep up the good work!!

Alan

3/1/2016 06:31:45 am

Hi Chris. Great project. I just finished building one and have yet to try it out. Cylinder bore is a bit rough though. Like the lathe in your video, my tailstock only has about 50mm feed. So I had to slide the tailstock forward and back on the bed in order to clear the chips away and I'm sure that is what caused it. Have you any advice? (This is only my third project...) Thanks.

Chris link

3/1/2016 07:52:30 am

Hey Alan,

The surface finish from a drill is Ok, because the O ring seals the bore. The key is to get a good snug fit with that O ring.

Cheers,
Chris.

Alan

6/1/2017 09:05:54 pm

Hi Chris. Just had a look at the Clickspring Fire Piston now available on your store page. It looks fantastic. What a great idea. Hope you get many sales. Now I wish mine was black anodised! But it works just fine (once I realised I was using the incorrect size of o-ring that is).

Alan

6/1/2017 09:07:49 pm

Hi again Chris. I can also warn other builders that you get a lot of really rubbishy looking compass inserts. I had to search around quite a bit till I found a decent looking one - worthy of all this hard work. Take the time to look for a good one it is really worth it.

Norbert St Pierre link

3/24/2016 12:53:46 pm

Awesome set of plans! Excellent videos as well. I'm very impressed and look forward to more of the same!

celestin

3/25/2016 10:39:40 am

Hi chris,
Excellent videos. I have a machine shop, can I make some for giving away ?

Simon Adams

4/7/2016 06:38:02 pm

this is great when I have some free time I shall be making this, thanks a lot for the free plans they are a great help to all who whish to make one

Trevor Adams

5/8/2016 05:05:48 am

You really should sell the fire piston, it is the coolest one I've seen so far

Chris link

6/1/2017 05:11:24 pm

Hey Trevor,
The Fire Piston is now available for sale here: https://clickspring.myshopify.com/products/the-clickspring-fire-piston

Cheers,
Chris.

Mike link

6/7/2016 11:09:52 am

That's an awesome lathe, awesome workpiece. It's also super cool to make such a precision component by manual operating. We have a resource of <a href="http://wikimachine.com/cnc-milling-machine-buyers-guide/">cnc mills</a> that an ordinary person can make an excellent workpiece as you do.

Patrick

6/28/2016 02:52:13 am

Are you planning on making a limited run of these, you stated earlier in the comments you might.

Chris link

6/29/2016 11:44:15 am

Hey Patrick,

Yes I will likely be doing a limited run later this year, hopefully in time for Christmas.

Cheers,
Chris

Chris link

6/1/2017 05:12:12 pm

Hey patrick,

The Fire Piston is now available for sale here: https://clickspring.myshopify.com/products/the-clickspring-fire-piston

Cheers,
Chris.

Skye Leake

11/23/2016 06:15:53 am

Hey all,
I am currently doing a run of these for Christmas gifts for my family this year. If all goes well with my short run I may consider turning out a couple dozen with any profits going to the patron. (I need Chris's permission first though). It is unlikely that I could supply in time for Christmas 2016.

Regards,
Skye Leake

Patrick

11/23/2016 01:06:40 pm

whats the price? I'm interested in 3.

Urs

4/25/2017 05:47:40 pm

Hi Chris.
Wonderful project!
I just built one, but the cylinder bore was to rough and after a while it grates the piston ring.
In my case it was caused by the 10mm drill but mainly by the 10mm screw-tap which scratched der bore at the "high pressure section".
On my second trial I drilled and reamed the cylinder 10mm. Then I bored out one end to 15mm dia ( lathe, 10mm deep) and inserted (Loctite) a 15mm plug.
Now I could insert a 8mm thread which does not hurt the cylinder bore. The whole bore has a perfect surface now….

Best regards
Urs

Alex Keossian

5/27/2017 06:13:47 am

You are awesome, this was an amazing experience for me to see this video, thankx a lot

bilal link

1/4/2018 02:18:39 am

what is the ignition fuel is used to ignite best other than carbonized cotton??/

dave

6/18/2019 06:45:05 pm

Nice to see someone still using the "skill"

my students will love this little project.

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Make: Fire Piston Project

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