First, start with your ½ SCH40 pvc endcap. Glue a piece of SCH40 PVC into it, and then chop off the pvc right where you end up level with the endcap. Then, take your piece of ½ cpvc and jam/glue the piece into the endcap/pipe combo. You should end up with something like this.
Next, just drill a small hole straight through it, and put some kind of bar or reinforcement; this is just to make sure the plunger head won’t fly off on you, even if the glue does fail. I used music wire. You’ll end up with something similar to this.
Next, just cut small grooves into the endcap, to allow o-rings to fit around them. Now, I had o-rings from ACE Hardware that I believe were labeled “18â€. Basically, you want the o-rings to be able to slide around in thin-walled 1†pvc. Next, just stick the o-rings on, and you have a plunger. Yes, it was that easy.
But while I’m at it, I might as well get into how I made my own plunger housing. I needed a backstop which would contain the spring, but still let the rod of the plunger to slide. I decided to use a ½ pvc coupler, which had a small piece of sanded-out SCH40 pvc in it (similar to the method used to make the plunger head), followed by a washer with a center large enough to let the cpvc plunger rod through.
Then, I just stuck this combination into the thin-walled 1†pvc and screwed it in place.
The other end of the plunger tube is just the same thing, screwed in place on the other end.
No, it’s not very exact, and when I make my next homemade (currently in design/prototype stage), I’ll get dimensions and everything. But I figure if you’re on NH, and haven’t been banned yet, you have the intelligence necessary to take the information in this writeup and turn it into something useful and working.
All that's lacking is the catch mechinism; whatever form you choose is up to you, I left it out in order to spark some creativity here; do what you feel would work best for you.
~ompa
