Homemade multilayer gaskets

[magneticanomaly]

Here is a trick I have used multiple times with good success.

When I need a hi-temp , durable gasket, I make one of multiple layers of copper sheet or foil, each layer buttered as thinly as possible with Hi-temp RTV silicone.

Today I made gaskets for exhaust spacer and mufler on a Yanmar diesel tractor, out of .005" copper foil I picked up somewhere. Decided to use 8 layers. The new fillip I tried today was how I cut them out.
After I made the 3/4" thick steel spacer block, I placed each 2 3/4" square piece of copper foil on two layers of old rubber inner-tube, on a thick steel plate, on my 20-ton arbor press bed, placed the drilled spacer-block on the foil, put another plate on top, and pressed. The rubber acurately punched out the needed 4 8mm and one 1 3/4" holes in the foil. Did not punch out perfectly clean, I had to finish tearing the slugs out, but that was pretty easy. and i was sure of accurate layout.

Admittedly seldom willI have a part robust enough to use as a die in the press.

Two of my multi-layer copper gaskets have been on the carb-to intake/exhaust manifold, and manifold-to-head of my old trractor for fifteen years or so now

Moderate-temp service gaskets for water, oil, gas, or other fuels I routinely make from cereal-box-type cardboard, soaked in linseed oil. THose I can usualy cut out by laying the cardboard over the part I am making the gasket for, and carefully tapping over the edges with a ball-pein hammer. Where the cut is not clean, it is at least clearly and precisely marked to finish with knife or scissors. I soak in linseed oil after cutting...it is absorbed much faster through the cut edges than through the face of the cardbord. Takes 10- 30 min or so.

 

[crossthread]

It's probably been forty years since I had to buy a paper gasket. I save the cardboard backing from legal pads and they work great for paper gaskets. In most cases I use laboratory cork cutters to make the holes but most anything will do. If you need to make a hole punch you can do it very quickly by taking a piece of any old tubing and grind a bevel on the outside edge with a belt sander or wheel. It doesn't need to be overly smooth or accurate since the best way to cut the paper is to twist the tube and it kind of saws through the paper. I have found the best way to mark the gasket for something like a carburetor is to oil the surface of the carb and press it onto the cardboard. Don't use too much oil or you will get smears. Just a thin film wiped on with your finger. The oil will transfer to the porous gray cardboard very accurately. You can then whack out the larger holes with an Xacto knife and use whatever punches you have to make holes for the studs etc. I've never had one fail.

 

[Garwood]

I make cardboard gaskets frequently. I don't have linseed oil, I use a thin coat of wheel bearing grease and they work well enough. I should probably pick up some linseed iol .Seems like the right thing for the job.

 

[dian]

anybody using coper spray? spray the cardboard?

 

[magneticanomaly]

I had a friend who swore by aluminum paint as gasket dressing. I like the linseed oil because it fills the pores of the cardboard so it will not seep.
Copper or never-seez over it would make the gasket easier to remove cleanly and re-use, maybe at small increased risk of leak.

 

[Doozer]

I have also used pressed paper board for gaskets
and soaked them with boiled linseed (flaxseed) oil.
I thought I was being creative and was the only one,
but I guess not. Ha ! ! !

--Doozer

 

[crickets]

I've cut gaskets out of rubberized cellulose on a laser cutter - not the easiest material to cut, but acceptable. Cardboard would be super easy to cut, even 40W laser would handle it.

 

[karl]

Instead of linseed oil try a rubber stamp pad.