Need some help finding a gas check shaped peice of metel.

[cutter_spc]

Hey Guy's and Gal's, I am needing a piece of metal shaped like a gas check about .567" -.575 in diameter for a project I would like to try and make. It can have a hole in the center. I have seen bearing dust covers in the past that look like what I need, and have searched that avenue to no avail. A freeze plug might work, but I would like to try thinner material. Just thought I would try and pick your alls brains a bit.

[runfiverun]

the ends they use for copper plumbing come pretty close, you might have to grind the sides down a bit [shrug] or not.
but a 1/2" one would be pretty close to your stated diameter.

[jmorris]

The key word you are looking for is expansion plug.

Here is a list of sizes.
http://www.dormanproducts.com/catalog/hardware2006/127-130_Sec8_Part1.pdf

But this one is .558-.574"

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/DAG0/555008/N0290.oap?ck=Search_N0290_1326293_-1&pt=N0290&ppt=C0142

[cutter_spc]

Thanks for the reply guys. The copper pipe end cap might work, and I didn't know freeze plugs were called expansion plugs, LOL. Just the kind of info I was looking for.

Thanks, Sean

[jmorris]

Sorry, my fault I started typing before I finished reading you post.

What are you using it for?

[salty dog]

My first thought was a bottle cap. Maybe a screw on to avoid the folds around the edge? Also, there are some tubing fittings that have ferrules about that size. Not sure if any would work, you would have to open up the drawer at the parts place and look a lot.

[cutter_spc]

jmorris, no need to apologize, I'm not a mechanic, I really didn't know what a freeze out plug was called, LOL. I have gone to oreillys and ordered the very pugs you linked to.

I am wanting to take a standard Lee decapping die, take the stem out, and wedge a piece of thick felt between a small length of pipe and the plug (gas check thingy). In short, I'm making a cheap lube die, so I can run 9mm through my progressive with no mess. The neat thing about the Lee die is the collet on top will grip a mop jag or bore brush just perfect, so I could use this die to run my 300 BLK cases through the press and lube the necks as well. Hard for me to pay close to $40 for a die if I could easily make one for les than $15

[cutter_spc]

Salty dog, I like that bottle cap idea, if I could find some small enough, shoot, come to think of it even a plastic cap would work.

Thanks, cutter

[oldred]

The key word you are looking for is expansion plug.

Here is a list of sizes.
http://www.dormanproducts.com/catalog/hardware2006/127-130_Sec8_Part1.pdf

But this one is .558-.574"

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/DAG0/555008/N0290.oap?ck=Search_N0290_1326293_-1&pt=N0290&ppt=C0142

You're right "expansion plug" is what the auto parts call it and that's what a person needs to ask for but even that's the wrong name. Those things were called "clean out plugs" at the casting plant where I worked back in the sixties and they have two purposes the main one being to allow for the casting sand to be removed from the water jacket! That's actually their real reason for being but the holes they plug also serve a secondary purpose of stress relieving the block during normal operational expansion and contraction but NEVER, EVER were they intended for the often mis-named purpose of allowing for ice freezing in the block! The factories made absolutely no safety mechanisms for a person to allow their engine to freeze! It wouldn't work anyway because by the time the ice has expanded enough to pop out that plug there will be serious damage done anyway, if the block is not cracked wide open (the usual result) then cylinder distortion will almost certainly occur.

Not shooting related I suppose but it's still an age old misunderstanding about these engine plugs and what their purpose is that leads to them being called by the wrong name well over half the time!

[cutter_spc]

That's some good info oldred. I am the type that likes odd facts like that, my wife can't stand that part of me, LOL.