2.5" piston?

[LCTChamp]

Well I recently won a lot of spudding supplies off ebay from Foxxlord (some of you may know him). In the lot there was a 2.5" tee. So I was thinking what fits in 2.5" pipe that would work as a piston? I searched the forum for 2.5" pistons but couldn't find anything. I either can't use the search feature or there aren't many made. Well I knew tennis balls would fit, but I didn't know how they could be turned into a piston. This is what I came up with.

First I would cut the ends off of the tennis ball then fill it with either epoxy or hot glue. Then I would add a washer and sealing face. I then realized the ball could just turn and the sealing face wouldn't be aligned. So I thought that I could attach a short length of 2" pipe to the back to keep it aligned.

So do you think this will work? What else could I use as a piston instead?

[jmeyer1022]

I believe the tennis ball is a bit of a squeeze into 2 1/2 pipe. I'd recommend getting a 2 1/2" hole saw and cutting wood disks or w.e material you'd like to use. For my 2" cannon I used a 2 1/4" hole saw then sanded it down to fit the pipe perfectly and added a floating O-ring on back and after about 50+ test shots(no barrel) at various PSI it has yet to crack break or come loose on the bolts, its also very light. Just my suggestion good luck.

[LCTChamp]

That sounds like a good idea. Would the tennis ball still be too snug if you removed all of the fuzz?

[jmeyer1022]

[youtube][/youtube]

If you look at the beginning of this video, I think even with the fuzz removed it would have a lot of drag cutting down on performance.

[mark.f]

Did anybody else get distracted for nearly and hour looking at KlugeBoy's new work after watching that video?

[jmeyer1022]

KlugeBoy's Channel is by far the most informative and interesting spud channel for me. He's a great guy too. Everytime I need to reference something I use his stuff, hopefully get him the views he deserves.

[mark.f]

Yeah, KlugeBoy frequented the Spudtech forums before they went down, and built the dream cannons hosted on his web site (klugeboy.net). I was surprised to see him back... pleasantly surprised.