I bought this at a flea market a couple of years ago and I loved the stainless
steel finish and I was sure I could do something with it, someday.
Well, that someday came and here is the Fire Water Extinguisher.
My goal -- and it worked out beautifully -- was to encase a bottle of whiskey inside of this
1967 vintage fire extinguisher.
So here's an overview: This bottle of whiskey is cradled inside the body of the extinguisher.
Switch, 9 volt battery, 9 volt pump, polyethylene tubes... whiskey comes out.
What the heck are we making today? He said something about a bottle in that bumbling
way of his. He's got power tools, a plan, and some time on his hands, and plastic tubes,
a pump, and stuff to line a large man's pant pockets.
Hey Joe, where you going with that tool in your hand? Is that a 3/4 inch wrench or are
you happy just to see a friend?
He's got pliers and fingers, he knows which way to unscrew. He's got a weird fascination
for this thing that he'll show you.
So hold on because he's sure this'll blow you away. He believes it's quite fascinating.
Now this is quite fascinating.
Told you!
This tube here is called a Bourdon, or Burdon, tube and as pressure inside the extinguisher
increases it attempts to straighten out the tube. And that is transferred by a series
of levers and gears, it's amplified, that movement is amplified and it moves the pointer. Look
at that, it's barely perceptible.
Oh cowbell and wrenches, there's never enough (More cowbell !). Just grab a handful and throw
them up. (More!)
You barely know one end from the other (More cowbell !).
And now he's wondering how he'll take this apart, so of course he'll drill drill drill
and tap it out.
Such aplomb, such savoir-faire, try to find a word which rhymes with that without mentioning
hair.
And now he's thinking that with some editing it might conceal the fact he don't know what
he's doing, but he sure is in a chatty mood today.
Two things I need to do now: Install this momentary switch that'll turn on the pump,
inside -- somehow -- this cavity here. And run the tubing through the front port, so
possibly this could fit under the handle though I would have to empty that out a bit.
Yeah, maybe drill that out.
And he's off! Off to the drill press, this is the real white knuckle, nail-biting, red-hot
grabby brass test.
Because the thing about brass it that it's really grabby, it'll wrap around your drill
bit and it'll never let go. You'll have to shake it off like a dog from your pant leg.
Shut it down, back it out, before your fuses blow.
Kicking up more flakes than Miss Water Buffalo. Looking high and low. Looking high and low.
Looking high and low for Miss Water Buffalo.
Gold (no), gold (uh-huh), gold (no), this is just brass (yes!)
Bane wants his mask back, oh baby, Bane wants his mask back. But enough about that.
Using an assortment of specialized hand tools... Oh, old gabby pants speaks again.
After drilling out and grinding the interior of the head -- which is all brass, right?
-- I found this amazing little tool here -- this bit -- which really just reamed the inside
like crazy. It just ground out the interior of the head. Pieces were flying all over the
place.
Now, the switch fits beautifully in here. I'll put the handle back on with the rivet.
And I've got enough room for my tube right here. All I need to do now is widen this up
a bit and probably chop some of this off, too. Because I don't want -- you know -- whatever's
been through here over the last 50, 60 years, I'm not sure. Yeah, we'll keep it clean.
He's drilling again. He's drilling again. He's drilling again on his Porter-Cable bench
drill press almost sure he's able to punch through more brass with a 21/64th, 3.2 Amp,
5 speed, one-half horse power.
So this'll run though the entire length... awwww, that is so good!
I'll also need corks from the cork department.
So originally I'd intended on using a regular cork like this one but since I have at least
-- at least -- one hole that I need to drill through it, it's very porous so I switched
for one of these corks. So this is one of the holes, right? No problem I can even put
a bit of sealant here but I think I'll need a second hole for a check valve.
So basically a check valve allows a gas or a liquid to flow in one direction but not
the other. In our case we'll use what we've got here: a ball bearing and a weak spring.
Now if we look at it this way, because this is exactly what we've got, and we've got the
ball bearing here travelling inside the empty space and a spring, and if necessary I'll
also put a small o-ring right here to give it a tighter seal. Should work.
There it is.
Have you seen this table? Have you seen how he's able to just roll it across the floor?
It's got some mighty fine wheels, now take this metal chop saw it was a real sweet deal.
From Pennsylvania, shipped through FedEx or some other carrier. But that's beside the
point, it cuts through steel like butter.
Wait, did you just rhyme carrier and butter?
I'd suggest you'd invest, take this inner-voice advice, get a better bench top vise or maybe
find a way to clamp it down so it doesn't run away.
Bending metal's never been more fun, he's got a handle on his project with his pretty
gloves. He's got a handle on his project though he had no plan. He'd like to think that he
does but he never has.
Red-hot sparks really do the trick, burning holes in his pants exposing his tick off the
mark with his calipers, reach in the drawer for a bigger washer.
Carefully aligning the various internal components of the fire water extinguisher, our good man
carefully marks off where the steel cradle's mounting screws will be attached to the body.
Using his trusty spring-loaded automatic centre punch ensures his drilling will be true and
precise. And then he did this:
10-24 isn't just the time it also helps to define a screw (more a bolt in this case).
It's a size 10 bolt with 24 threads per inch.
Have you seen this table? (Yes, yes we have) Have you seen how he's (YES, we've seen the
table). Well have you seen his nice hat? (It's a frigging welding helmet) and his really
cool gloves? (Eh. Actually yeah, they're cool)
Flux core arc welding, first developed in the early 1950s, is a semi -- or fully automatic
arc welding process. It requires a continuously-fed consumable tubular electrode containing a
flux and a constant voltage. The aforementioned flux generates the necessary protection from
the atmosphere, producing both gaseous protection and a liquid slag protecting the weld.
(Wow, this is taking a dark turn. Is it the grinder, or what? It's the social distancing;
he's losing it)
He's yearning to connect and feed power to the pump, to have the liquid pouring out and
taste the whiskey flowing free as his friends stream in and they gather all around he knows
the embrace of their arms, he feels the warmth in the sound of the laughter in their voices
as they all lift their glasses. Huddle closer to the centre of the glow for it's all that he
yearns for and it's all in that moment that they know, his fire water extinguisher.
(Sort of beautiful) (Thanks for sharing but that was really, really personal, dude) (Cuckoo)
(and kind of cringey)
And that's the moment I realized my design was flawed.
Because of the check valve fitting in right here there was no place to fit the pump, which
should have been right here. So I installed a plate for the pump and the battery at the
bottom. That works out.
Back to the drawing board they say, back to the chopping and assembling if you say so.
Clips on the cutting floor won't stay, welding and grinding something potato. He could find
better words to express how he feels when he's there in the flow. Looking back at this
thing he's afraid that the moment has gone potato. He can't find that word, which he
can't quite grasp, potato. It eludes and perturbes, it's a placeholder, potato.
Please remain seated as he shows you this potato.
This model here is the Weller ML200 Magna Lite butane tabletop torch. What I've done,
because if you use it properly, you have to turn, pull, push, and then push back in. You
need 2 hands and 3 or 4 friends to light it. Or take off these little stickers here -- I'm
not saying you should but if you want to know how it works -- there are some screws, this
opens up, and you can fiddle around, take a little spring off and a little lever so
then you just need one hand to light it.
All right, let's get back to the program with some cold hard facts and details on this build...
and he's back.
And from the battery department: 9 volts, but you know what's inside here. There are
6 AAAA batteries all stacked up...
Stop! These are not actually AAAA batteries. These are LR-61s and they're 3,5 millimetres
shorter than AAAAs but you can still use them if you're in a bind.
Anyway, if you short-circuit one of these it might explode. There have been house fires
caused by short-circuited 9 volt batteries so either you keep a cap on this or put a
bit of masking tape on it.
You should always use a battery tester. Yeah, it's still good.
And what we have here is victory! The electrical components of the prototype fire water extinguisher
are fully functional but some further assembly is required to get those juices flowing.
Some heat is required to soften the connections of the high-quality polyethylene tubes which
run throughout the system. Everything is carefully cut to spec and he uses his potato gadget
to heat the tube sections.
Ouch, that's hot!
Another type of potato gadget is used as a sort of space-age heat ray.
And we're mere seconds from finally getting this modern miracle of advanced tinkering
off the ground.
Yes, we have contact! The pump is working, whiskey is flowing.
We're waiting for confirmation but all we can say at the moment is that the workshop
smells like a tavern and Farmer Brown would like his overalls back.
Problem.
So it's done and it's working perfectly except that it's not working perfectly. The thing
is that it doesn't stop running. Water just keeps -- well, water in this case but whiskey,
usually -- just keeps pouring out.
Some water keeps running through the motor -- through the pump and it's pulled out by
a siphoning effect possibly? So I'm going to install another check valve, a small, cheap
plastic check valve, right here.
This check valve needs a bit of pressure to open up the diaphragm and if it doesn't have
enough pressure it just shuts off. So let's try that.
I just hope this pump is strong enough for the diaphragm. So right about here should
do.
This is clever but you're a fraud. To be unmasked as an imposter is your greatest fear of all.
But in that flow of creating you're untouchable and saintly in that semi-state of grace. This
thing you built is priceless, or maybe not.
So you pull the trigger. That sets off the pump connected to a 9 volt battery on the
back here which pumps whiskey out... OK that's sort of self-explanatory, right?
Hey man, you made something cool. But hey, it took you 2 years to think about it.
Hey man, you went through all your tools and 2 days to build and 2 weeks
to sing about it. Hey man, (More cowbell !) it's pumping party fuel. But hey,
there's no-one around to drink it. Hey man, you know it's something cruel. You
can't really use it but you know where to hang it.
Safety.
And...
Sláinte!