Originally Posted By: moribundman
It appears that I am not getting through. I am not looking for an easy solution that requires no effort on my part. I don't want to have it done. The enjoyment in doing these things myself lies in finding a workable solution that I myself can implement. This isn't about a job that must be done, it's about problem solution. Anybody can go and have it done.
OK. here's how you make a steel rule die in your garage.
1- Procure some Baltic birch plywood. For your purposes 3 1 foot squares of 1/2" (mm) should be enough.
2- Procure 8" square of 11ga sheet steel. Hot rolled preferred.
3- Procure some steel strapping material (as used to "band" packages and crates) and sharpen 1 edge to a 30 deg. angle.
4- Using one piece of the plywood, cut out a circle the ID of your gasket minus twice the thickness of the steel strapping.
5- Cut a "donut" the desired width of your gasket (ID to OD).
6- Cut a hole in another sheet the OD of your gasket PLUS twice the thickness of the steel strapping.
7- On the third piece of plywood. center the piece of 11 ga sheet steel and the first circular piece and drill holes in the plywood (2) to mount these three pieces together.
8- Wrap the sharpened strapping around the center piece and carefully cut and trim so that there are no gaps. Make sure the non beveled side of the strapping faces out, away from the center.
9- Place the piece that is donut shaped around the center piece and carefully insert the strapping into the resulting groove between the two pieces, REMEMBER the bevel orientation.
10- Drill at least 3 evenly spaced, countersunk, screw holes in the donut and secure it in place.
11- Place the piece with the major OD on the assembly and repeat steps 9&10 but this time the bevel faces to the outside.
12- Make sure everything is tighter'nhell. If necessary use some liquid epoxy to secure everything in place.
13- find that scrap of tempered masonite you hid behind the work bench, and place it smooth side up on a flat place in the garage. Place your gasket material on top of the masonite and the die, cutting edges down, on top of that. Now here's the fun part. You can either place a thicker something on top of the die and smack it with a BFH. or drive the car over it.
TaDa, one gasket or whatever it is????
Pablo, this is the way Dana makes low volume gaskets, both metallic and composite. albeit a little more sophisticated.
