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Easy PVC Pistons + Simple Airgun

By fozzy13 in Living > Toys & Games 78.110 158 35 Featured

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By fozzy13
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About: I'm a Mechanical Engineer who has been a part of this community for over 10 years! My interests have evolved over
time, and now center around 3D printing. More About fozzy13 »

Pistons are useful for many things in today's world. For example, internal combustion engines
that run our cars use pistons. Pistons can also be used for hydraulics, pneumatics, pumps, and
other devices of all shapes and sizes. The possibile uses for pistons is endless. However, it
is very di cult if not impossible to make a perfectly sealed piston for your everyday projects. In
this Instructable I will show the process I used to make perfectly sealed pistons for PVC pipes,
and how I used a piston to make a simple airgun.

A video of the airgun can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGaR2vzxUu8

I had a lot of di culty getting the video to embed properly, even though I have not before. If
anyone has a tip, let me know!
________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________
Webster's De nition of "piston": a sliding piece moved by or moving against uid pressure which
usually consists of a short cylindrical body tting within a cylindrical chamber or vessel along which
it moves back and forth
See source here: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/piston
________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________

Here's an overview of what will be explained in the following steps:

Step 1: Materials Needed
Step 2: The Build: The Secret to the Perfect Piston
Step 3: The Build: Piston Pictures
Step 4: Simple Airgun Theory of Operation
Step 5: The Build: Simple Airgun
Step 6: Conclusion

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Step 1: Needed Materials

Not many materials are needed for this project. The list is as follows:
PVC Pipe - (pic 1) - You can use whatever diameter you would like. In this project, I use a
length of 1" Inner Diameter Schedule 40 PVC for the outer part of the piston. For the inner
piece that seals against the 1" pipe, I used 1/2" Inner Diameter Schedule 40 PVC. PVC pipe is
available at any big box home improvement store.
Foam Rubber Sheet- (pic 2) - I bought this sheet at my local craft store. It is very cheap, and
comes in a variety of colors and thicknesses. In this Instructable I am using black "Foamies"
brand sheets that are 3mm in thickness.
Hot Glue Gun - (pic 3) - Everyone has to have one
Dremel or Rotary Tool - (pic 4) - I use my Dremel for nearly every project. Optional, but very
helpful.
Hacksaw - (not pictured) - I used this to cut the handles for the airgun I used the piston for.
Optional.

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Step 2: The Build: the Secret to the Perfect Piston

Procedure:

Get out the foam rubber sheet and the PVC pipe. You should either have two pieces of PVC,
one for the piston and one for the outer cylinder, or have some other object to become the
piston.
Cut a piece of foam rubber equal to the circumfrence of the object to be used as the piston.
In my case, I loosely wrapped the foam rubber around the pipe, marked the length with a
Sharpie, and cut it there. The strip was adjusted to precise length afterward. The ends of the
strip were cut at an angle so as to overlap smoothly. (pic 1)
Using hot glue, attatch the foam rubber strip to the object being used to make the piston.
TIP!: The foam rubber can expand when the hot glue is applied, allowing it to be streched out
to a greater length slightly. This can be useful when trying to get the perfect diameter for
your piston. (pic 2-3)
Use a knife to cut away excess glue from the piston.
Push your piston into the outer cylinder. You may want to use some sort of lubrication to help
it slide. After a while, it may loosen up a bit. I use vegetable oil, Crisco shortening, or WD-40
for lubricants, applied with a paper towel to the piston and outer cylinder. (pic 6)
If your pison is made of PVC: You may want to plug the end of your pipe with something, so
that whatever will be in the piston does not come out the back of the pipe. For this, I often
use my Dremel tool to shape a small piece of plexiglass and glue it into place. A PVC end cap
could also be used. (pic 7)

A Little More Theory:

The secret behind a perfectly sealed PVC piston is the foam rubber sheet, mentioned in the
previous step. What is great about this material is that it is able to seal like rubber gaskets do, but
allows for exibility in the area of measurements. For example, when you cut ordinary rubber, it
has very little, if any, room to adjust its volume. Foam rubber on the other hand, has millions of
tiny air bubbles in it, allowing for its volume to adjust when those tiny air bubbles compress.
How does this relate to pistons you ask? When cutting material to make pistons, the material I
am cutting is always too big or to small to be able to perfectly seal and move with ease. Foam
rubber is able to be cut so that it looks to be the right size, and with a little force, will t into the
outer cylinder and ll it completely. This may be a little hard to understand, the following is a set
of steps, describing what happens to the foam rubber as it is forced into the outer cylinder.

1. The foam rubber is forced into the outer cylinder, compressing the air bubbles within the
foam.
2. Once inside the outer cylinder, the air bubbles within the foam expand, attempting to reach
equilibrium with atmospheric pressure.
3. The air bubbles expansion causes the foam rubber to push against the walls of the outer
cylinder, thus creating a perfect seal.

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Step 3: The Build: Piston Pictures

Your piston is now completed. I decided to add another step with a couple pictures of the
piston put together before going into the Simple Airgun piece of this Instructable. There is also
a lot of information of the last page, so this is a good chance for your brain to relax. Pictures of
the piston are below.

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Step 4: Simple Airgun Theory of Operation

The Simple Airgun is not a lethal weapon, but a fun toy. I wanted something quick and easy to
experiment with this method of making a piston. It has only one moving part, and that is the
piston itself. So how does it work?

When the volume of a sealed container decreases, the pressure increases, according to Boyle's
Law. We hav made a perfectly sealed container with our piston. When we rapidly decrease the
volume in the chamber, the pressure will increase, thus becoming able to shoot a projectile.

The gun is composed of two handles. One handle is connected to the outer cylinder, while the
other is attached to the piston. The two handles begin apart, and are then pushed together
quickly to create an area of high pressure to force out the projectile. See the diagram below.

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Step 5: The Build: Simple Airgun

At this point I already had my perfectly sealed piston, functioning well and well lubricated.
I left both ends of the piston unsealed for the purpose of making this airgun.

I fashioned two gun-looking handles out of a small piece of scrap 1"x6" wood I found in my
box of fun things using a combination of the hacksaw and Dremel tool.
The handles were then glued to the pieces of the piston with hot glue. After a quick and
dirty coat of paint, it was done! Check out the pictures!

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Step 6: Conclusion

This Instructable reveals the secret to making perfectly sealed PVC pistons for your various
desires. The pistons themselves can be scaled up or down and used in many di erent ways.
One such way is in a Simple Airgun, as also described. To re the gun, simply force the handles
together quickly.

Good luck making your own pistons! Comment and rate please!

Thanks for reading!

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35 Discussions

PotatoDemon 1 year ago

Reply / Upvote
The way you use it reminds me of an improvised shotgun (slam fire). I think I’ll build this to add to my ever-
growing arsenal of plumbing aisle weaponry.

13Clint 1 year ago

Reply / Upvote
Thanks for creating this and sharing it! I think I’ll do this with my kids.

Devrimm 8 years ago on Introduction

Reply / Upvote

Yes ! Thank you for the way to make it.

I'll use the same system for my water pump now !
Thank you !

2 replies F

Suraj Grewal 1 year ago

Reply / Upvote
Nice work!
Wish I could put my hand into some portal and touch that foam to know what it is actually like.

JkrsWyld 3 years ago

Reply / Upvote
Great project...awesome concept to use against my siblings ( he he he ) and I think you just solved one of
my biggest headaches involving a costume prop that I will credit you for :-)

Mo0k 5 years ago on Introduction

Reply / Upvote
By the way: https://www.instructables.com/id/Potato-AirGun/

1 reply F

ilpug 8 years ago on Introduction

Reply / Upvote
well done. ive always wondered about how to make good pistons with out messing around with o-rings.
there we go. i might use this idea in an upcoming project... so sad i missed this years Launch It! challenge
(and last years, and so on)

well done. i recommend shooting potato plugs or marshmallows.

8 replies F

ViperSniper 8 years ago on Introduction

Reply / Upvote
i want to make a DiY nerf gun for a competition. my qeustion is will i be able to use this inside the nerf gun or
not?

P.S. sorry for my poor english

1 reply F

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