Custom made gaskets

Neeves

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I'm parsimonious and don't want to pay for custom made gaskets. I thought of making the few I need from a sheet of Sikaflex. I have an old tube, or a tube with some Sikaflex in it (stored in the deep freeze). If its possible I could make them here and now.

Is there a product to which Sikafelx does not stick that I could use as a peel coat.

I could then extrude the Sika onto one sheet, place another sheet on top and weight the top sheet to extrude the film to whatever thickness I want, by using spacers.

I guess I could lay a film of turps on both sheets - but the turps will reduce the strength of the Sika.

A film of detergent.....?, wax coat glass.....?

Jonathan
 

NormanS

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As a quondam member of the Gobi Desert Engineering Co, I have made many gaskets out of Corn Flakes packets. For real precision jobs, brown envelopes are probably better.
 

DownWest

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Wot de gaskets for? That really does influence answers. If head gaskets, bit more trickey :rolleyes:

Edit: If using any type of mastic, one usually gobs it on (carefully..) to one surface, apply the other face and gently snug up with the fastenings. Wait for it to go off, then a little more compression with said fastenings. Couple of washers under the edges if worried about thickness while it is setting.
 
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rogerthebodger

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I'm parsimonious and don't want to pay for custom made gaskets. I thought of making the few I need from a sheet of Sikaflex. I have an old tube, or a tube with some Sikaflex in it (stored in the deep freeze). If its possible I could make them here and now.

Is there a product to which Sikafelx does not stick that I could use as a peel coat.

I could then extrude the Sika onto one sheet, place another sheet on top and weight the top sheet to extrude the film to whatever thickness I want, by using spacers.

I guess I could lay a film of turps on both sheets - but the turps will reduce the strength of the Sika.

A film of detergent.....?, wax coat glass.....?

Jonathan

Jonathan

If you wish to make a seal/gasket from sikaflex squirt it into a piece of grease proof paper of and then place a second piece on top , a spacer between the 2 and push down on to the spacer pieces with a piece of ply bigger then the gasket/seal.

You can also make gaskets from card, rubber or cork depending what you ar sealing.

I have use the ball peen hammer technique but now use a wood mlit or block of wood for the main shape and leather punch for the holes.

There was someone a while age who needed a square section O ring you can make one from a thin sheet of rubber and 2, different size leather punch to make a rubber washer

I also have used this technique to make a rubber washer from a tap washer when the hole in the tap washer was too small.


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US $0.56 14% OFF|New Leather craft tools leather hole punches Set Hollow Puncher Belt Punch 1.0mm 25mm for Clothing accessory handmade DIY|Punching| - AliExpress
 

duncan99210

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I once made a 2 stroke bike engine cylinder heat gasket out of several layers of aluminium cooking foil. worked fine until I wrecked the gearbox and clutch and scrapped the bike...
I also rebuilt a 4 stroke bike engine and used silicon RTV gasket gloop: just ran a bead of it round the mating surfaces, finger tightened the bolts, left to cure and then torqued them down onto the cured gloop. Worked fine for a number of years.
Most recently I’ve used cereal packets for the water pump on the 2030 that resides under the cockpit.
 

TernVI

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I think the traditon of using cereal packets might well explain why British motorbikes so often leaked oil?
Proper gasket sheet is usually not expensive.

Be careful with any RTV type 'gorilla snot'. I have a very mangled con rod from an engine where bits of congealed RTV were floating around inside. It's easy for a bead to be squeezed out of a gasket face. Bits can then block oilways.
 

LittleSister

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Gasket paper a 1/2 lb ball pein hammer and some ball bearings - job jobbed
FWIW, I've never thought knocking hell out of a delicate component with a hammer was a good way of making gaskets. There are better ways.

Can someone please explain to this innocent how the hammer and ball bearing are used with gasket paper?
 

LittleSister

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Be careful with any RTV type 'gorilla snot'. I have a very mangled con rod from an engine where bits of congealed RTV were floating around inside. It's easy for a bead to be squeezed out of a gasket face. Bits can then block oilways.

Yes, I had a long-term loan of a 250cc Royal Enfield that a previous owner had caused endless ongoing problems (though none as serous as a mangled con-rod) by splurging gasket goo hither and thither with gay abandon.
 

RichardS

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Can someone please explain to this innocent how the hammer and ball bearing are used with gasket paper?
The ball hammer and the bearings are both used to sharply drive the edge of the metal surface to which the bearing is to be fitted into the gasket material. The metal edge, whether it be the outside and inside circumference of the housing or the circumference of the stud/bolt holes then acts as a cutting edge into the material. You either get a clean cut or an accurate perforated outline in the gasket material.

In my experience, it does work with cardboard or proper gasket sheet but does not work with nitrile sheet.

Richard
 

Neeves

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My nearest source of gasket material is Sikaflex, an opened tube, in our deep freeze or a 15 km journey there and another 15km back. Additionally though I used the word' gasket its really a spacer.

Maybe I should have provided more detail.

I have some threaded low friction rings which fit into a 27mm diam hole, the exterior of the LFRs is 37mm, giving me a taurus of 5mm wide ring. The Low Friction rings are too long by about 3mm, so they rattle, or are loose, in the hole.. I want to keep the length but I need to fill the gap between the two faces of the rings. I want the length as the rope through the rings turns. I don't want to permanently fix the ring (otherwise I'd simply use Sika and 'glue' them in). I thought some form of gasket material, say 2mm thick would allow me to have a gasket on each side as the LFRs will then rest on an 'elastic' bed.

One reason not to bond them is that if I need to remove the LFRs and they are bonded in situ - there is nothing on the LFRs on which to obtain a grip to 'break' them free from whatever 'adhesive' is used.

I can obviously cut them out with scissors - given the right material. Cardboard or paper is obviously an excellent gasket material as is 'aluminised' paper for applications where its hot and for which I have a sheet for the heat exchangers. I did think of silicone baking sheets - but that necessitates chopping up a perfectly good baking sheet for 4 rings.

At this point I wondered about using the remains of the Sika in the tube - but I was not sure on which material I could extrude the adhesive such that when set I could 'peel' it from the substrate. I could use a sheet of aluminium top and bottom and allow to set off with the sheets separated by a 2mm spacer - and simply weight the top sheet - the issue was - what can I line the aluminium sheets such that the Sika is set off between 'peel coats'. Once the Sika is set off I could simply cut, neatly, with scissors.

Roger suggests grease proof paper, I did wonder about waxed paper, I also thought of waxing the aluminium sheets (which could be glass - any smooth surface) - and was soliciting the views of the knowledge base. I had hoped that I would not need to give a long rambling account of what the application was and people would simply answer the question without need to speculate.

So imagine you are stuck in some glorious Greek, Labrador or Western Island anchorage with the need to make a couple of gaskets/spacers - you have the Sikaflex - what do you do?

And to complete the long rambling account - the reason to want to be able to not permanently fix the LFRs is that I have 2 identical sets. 4 made in 316 stainless and 4 made in a 6xxx aluminium alloy then anodised and I don't know which will best suit the application - and may want to swap them over.

Jonathan
 
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