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Thursday, August 30, 2012

How To: 2 Hole Pistons

Here at TLR, we are always trying to push our products forward, testing anything and everything we can.  One thing we have run across is the use of 2 hole pistons.  Many people keep asking us how we make 2 hole pistons so we figured we would show you.  It is fairly easy but you need some things to make this happen.  I recommend using the standard Losi glue (LOSA7880) as it’s thicker and stays in the holes you are gluing better.  Accelerator is also a great tool here as it makes it much faster and also makes the bond stronger.  Then you will want the drill bit of your choice and a hand drill.  Some of the metric bits might not be available at Lowe's or Home Depot, so take a look at McMaster-Carr for these.  Its important to drill these by hand so you can keep the hole as precise as possible and also not melt the plastic.

1.  Place some glue in the holes you want to fill.  Make sure that enough goes in that it just comes out the bottom side.
Place Glue in the holes you wish to close

2.  Use some accelerator on both sides of the piston.  Dry the piston off and check both sides of the glued area to make sure that some glue has mushroomed over the edges of the holes you glued.  This makes the glue into a true plug.  If it is not mushroomed, the glue can sometimes work its way loose and fall out.  As you can see in the photo, both sides of the glue have come out and gone around the edge.
Notice how the glue has "spilled over" both sides of the piston just a little.

3.  Simply drill out the remaining 2 holes with the drill bit of choice.  When we refer to a 2 hole 1.6 piston, we simply mean that it has holes each sized with a 1.6mm drill bit.  Make sure you get all the burrs off the edges of the holes so the oil flows properly.

I hope this helps, and RACE ON!
Ryan Dunford