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Old 22-11-2017, 10:19   #1
er9
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Anyone laser cut their own gaskets?

cant find just a single valve cover gasket for for my engine unless i buy a complete gasket set for $175. i have a laser and am and pretty good at CAD drawing so figured i could probably easily create a vector file for the gasket and just cut it out for myself for probably a few dollars worth of gasket material.

anyone else done this yet? i would need to know what material is used of course for the gasket or could be used.
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Old 22-11-2017, 11:07   #2
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Anyone laser cut their own gaskets?

Use a gasket cutting hammer AKA small ball peen and be done before you even get programming good.
However most valve cover gaskets use cork about 1/8” thick. It can be bought at most auto parts stores.
I would use rubber sheet of about the same thickness though, sometimes the cork sticks to the head and tears, the rubber ought to be able to be reused many times.
If you use cork, a thin coating of grease prior to assembly will almost always prevent the gasket from sticking and it can be reused many times, eventually due to age it will get hard enough to require replacing. Made from silicone, one ought to last indefinitely
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Old 22-11-2017, 11:21   #3
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Re: Anyone laser cut their own gaskets?

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Originally Posted by a64pilot View Post
Use a gasket cutting hammer AKA small ball peen and be done before you even get programming good.
However most valve cover gaskets use cork about 1/8” thick. It can be bought at most auto parts stores.
I would use rubber sheet of about the same thickness though, sometimes the cork sticks to the head and tears, the rubber ought to be able to be reused many times.
If you use cork, a thin coating of grease prior to assembly will almost always prevent the gasket from sticking and it can be reused many times, eventually due to age it will get hard enough to require replacing. Made from silicone, one ought to last indefinitely
Ha! that sounds too easy. i dont know if i like your idea...shouldnt it be highly technical and complicated requiring the use of cutting edge machinery and computers?

did find some .125 gasket cork, big sheet for $15. that wasnt too hard.
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Old 22-11-2017, 11:25   #4
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Re: Anyone laser cut their own gaskets?

Although I haven't done this for my boat, I have laser cut gaskets for MANY other things. I owned a laser cutting/plastics company before we left and cutting gaskets was something we did often. For customers we used actual paper gasket material. If it was for one of my hobby projects I mostly used old cereal boxes. None of my gaskets ever leaked..

If you do some reaseach and have access to a large scanner, it should be pretty easy to scan the cover and make a gasket quickly from that pic. If I could get a part to fit on my scanner, I usually could create a gasket in under 10 min!
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Old 22-11-2017, 11:30   #5
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Re: Anyone laser cut their own gaskets?

P.S. if you do try using actual paper gasket material (can be bought at most industrial supply places), make sure to get the right stuff. Some of it has a metalic center (1 sheet of paper, 1 sheet of metalic, 1 sheet of paper, glued in a sandwich). If you have a standard CO2 laser, you won't be able to cut that.. You need just paper (or cork as suggested). Personally I prefer just paper card stock.. In a few cases I put a very light coating of black silicone one both sides, buts its not necessary.
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Old 22-11-2017, 11:42   #6
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Re: Anyone laser cut their own gaskets?

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Originally Posted by travellerw View Post
P.S. if you do try using actual paper gasket material (can be bought at most industrial supply places), make sure to get the right stuff. Some of it has a metalic center (1 sheet of paper, 1 sheet of metalic, 1 sheet of paper, glued in a sandwich). If you have a standard CO2 laser, you won't be able to cut that.. You need just paper (or cork as suggested). Personally I prefer just paper card stock.. In a few cases I put a very light coating of black silicone one both sides, buts its not necessary.
thanks for the great info. yeah CO2 not enough wattage to get through metal. interesting idea with the scanner. didnt think of that. i could probably use a small scanner and do a couple of images and link them together.
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Old 22-11-2017, 11:58   #7
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Re: Anyone laser cut their own gaskets?

I too have cut gaskets with my lasers.
As said by "travellerw", easiest and fastest way is to scan, import then trace the original into your cutting software.

That is if you have an original in good shape. If not, then you are drawing it out.

As far as material, cork or rubber would be best. Paper, Vellumiod, Garlock, or other thin material are really not that desirable for a stamped metal cover such as valve covers, timing chain covers, oil pans....etc.

As a last ditch option, you can do what GM does. Lay a bead of RTV around the mating surfaces. Lay the cover in place on the head until the RTV cures. Then tighten the cover bolts.
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Old 22-11-2017, 12:03   #8
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Re: Anyone laser cut their own gaskets?

[QUOTE=er9;2523243] yeah CO2 not enough wattage to get through metal. [QUOTE]


A 100 watt CO2 will cut 0.030" ferrous metal.
I've cut 1/4" plate with 400 watts.
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Old 22-11-2017, 13:20   #9
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Re: Anyone laser cut their own gaskets?

Here is a video on the old school way to do it.
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Old 22-11-2017, 13:36   #10
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Re: Anyone laser cut their own gaskets?

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Originally Posted by Charlie View Post
Here is a video on the old school way to do it.
BARBARIAN!!!

i will definately be buying a ball peen hammer and stowing it aboard with some gasket material since my laser is probably too big for my house bank.
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Old 22-11-2017, 14:18   #11
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Re: Anyone laser cut their own gaskets?

[QUOTE=missourisailor;2523258][QUOTE=er9;2523243] yeah CO2 not enough wattage to get through metal.
Quote:


A 100 watt CO2 will cut 0.030" ferrous metal.
I've cut 1/4" plate with 400 watts.
Our 100W CO2 laser would cut it... but REALY ugly.. I also needed to run %100 power... We just avoided anything with metal and only used the lasers to make labels on metal (for the life of me I can't remember the name of the fluid we used.)

Anyway.. Way off topic.. Personally I still prefer paper gaskets.. In fact one oil pan gasket on my MD2030 was hand cut from a beer box. 24 months and 1000s of nautical miles and it hasn't leaked a single drop.
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Old 22-11-2017, 15:10   #12
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Re: Anyone laser cut their own gaskets?

[QUOTE=travellerw;2523318][QUOTE=missourisailor;2523258]
Quote:
Originally Posted by er9 View Post
yeah CO2 not enough wattage to get through metal.

Our 100W CO2 laser would cut it... but REALY ugly.. I also needed to run %100 power... We just avoided anything with metal and only used the lasers to make labels on metal (for the life of me I can't remember the name of the fluid we used.)

Anyway.. Way off topic.. Personally I still prefer paper gaskets.. In fact one oil pan gasket on my MD2030 was hand cut from a beer box. 24 months and 1000s of nautical miles and it hasn't leaked a single drop.
thats good info to have in case we end up in a very remote place and desperately need a gasket. solid heavy paper is everywhere and am sure we all could find some aboard any one of our boats.
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Old 22-11-2017, 15:18   #13
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Re: Anyone laser cut their own gaskets?

Won’t the “learning” effect of a laser
make one edge of the gasket thiner and thus weaker?
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Old 22-11-2017, 15:19   #14
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Re: Anyone laser cut their own gaskets?

make that KEARNING
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Old 22-11-2017, 16:24   #15
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Re: Anyone laser cut their own gaskets?

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make that KEARNING
In 5 years of owning a laser company I have never heard that term... We also cut tons of RC airplane designs for clients.I'm assuming you mean the fact that a laser does not cut straight, but in a V (or hourglass is somtimes described).

This means that the side closest to the laser is shorter than the side furthest away.. However.. We are talking microns at the gasket level (gaskets are like 1/16" of an inch thick at MAX, usually less)... Frankly that would have ZERO affect on a gasket with a sealing surface of a 1/4" or more.. Like seriously ZERO. The difference between the top and bottom edges would be imperceivable, even to a microscope. Of course most of this can be mostly mitigated by a compentant operator focusing the laser correctly.

However.... If you are talking about something else.. Please enlighted us.. I would love to know if I was doing things wrong for 5 years..
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