Experimenting with making gaskets bought some flexoid and some sharp cutting implements waiting on a hole punch set to get perfect bolt holes used my potato stenciling skills from childhood , using food colouring residue cleans off easy with water worked a treat https://2fiftycc.com/index.php?resources/permaseal-gasket-material-packs-list.429/
I have made a lot of gaskets by sitting the gasket material on the item and tapping gently on the edges with a small hammer so that the sharp edge of the item cuts through the gasket. With a small ball peen hammer I was able to create the bolt holes too. I don't know if that technique is frowned on by professionals, but that is the way my father used to do it and I have made a lot of gaskets that way over the last 50 years for car, motor bike and lawnmower motors. I like your technique too. I may try that next time to see what works best for me.
I have a friend who has a a laser cutter , he just puts the item he wants to make a gasket for onto a flatbed scanner , makes an image file and sends it to a laser cutter The cool thing is that he has a nicely cut gasket in less than 10 mins , but the setup costs are much higher I like both of your ways @GreyImport and @Allan , old school
Fortunately I have access to a lot of fun stuff through my job. I do the scanner/laser cutter thing too and it works great. I’ve done enough of them that I’m pretty quick but the CAD work still takes me more than 10 minutes.
This is such a good skill to have to hand - especially when a minor maintenance job becomes a major hassle because the gasket tore on disassembly and it's several weeks wait for a replacement from the dealer
That is one cool laser machine , i'm with the rest of you doing it the old school way with a ball pein hammer. If you had new gasket's in your spare part's box that where N.LA. , he could scan them and make multiple spares ?. That would very useful for us for the future to keep our bike's going , just one less hassle looking for gasket's.
