SpudFiles

Piston valves........Piston valves...........Piston valves. Their everywhere. Any way I was looking into making this one i saw a kid post but i cant seem to find it. He claimed he turned rubber rod down with a lathe into a fitting piston. Well i was looking on mcmaster and was finding different hardness of rubber. I was wonder what would be turnable on a lathe????

Go to mcmaster.com to see the different hardness factors. There should be tables that say DUROMETER. To get there search rubber on the search and click on rods and disks. The durometer is on this page. Thanks.

You would want a hard rubber. Soft ones wouldn't cut right on a lathe i think.

Well I just made a piston where i "lathed" a piece of rubber. I used a rubber stopper i found at lowes. I hooked it to a drill and put a razor blade on the vise and just shaved the rubber to the right shape. Someone did a how-to on this but I can't seem to find it.

brian the brain.

neoprene sealer
Use a drill and vise as your makeshift lathe and use neoprene or mouse pad as your sealer.
As far as rubber bar stock goes... I would think that the hardness of the rubber you would need in order to turn it properly would be less effective in sealing your barrel/chamber.

I just finished building my new piston and I used a piece of pvc pipe(1 1/4"in my case)lathed down and a wood stopper glued in with JB Weld Then I glued a piece of hard gasket rubber as a facing.This thing works great and doesn't leak at all. It has yet to be time tested. I've only shot It about 50 times but the piston Is holding up well.Oh and to answer your question on rubber hardness.You will have a hard time latheing out rubber.The bits tend to gum up and then you get rips in the plastic.

goathunter wrote:I just finished building my new piston and I used a piece of pvc pipe(1 1/4"in my case)lathed down and a wood stopper glued in with JB Weld Then I glued a piece of hard gasket rubber as a facing.This thing works great and doesn't leak at all. It has yet to be time tested. I've only shot It about 50 times but the piston Is holding up well.Oh and to answer your question on rubber hardness.You will have a hard time latheing out rubber.The bits tend to gum up and then you get rips in the plastic.

Well i'd imagine that you could with the right hardness, as you can see brian the brain how to where he shaved some off. Ill just get a hard rubber and try it on a lathe. Thanks all.

The very edge of the conical rubber phrams I made this way were perfected with sanding paper.The edge made by the razor blade was a little jagged, but it still sealed.I just didn't like that look.

THe blade just leaves tiny bits that are so thin they bend rather then shave off.
Maybe a sharper blade would "cut" it ( hehehe).
I haven't tried this on a big chunk of rubber, but the thickerthe piece, the easier it seemed to be
Sanding paper would also work, but that creates a lot of friction and does gum up and burn the rubber if you push it too hard.