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DaveKamp 
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Joined: 12 Apr 2010
Location: LeClaire, Ia
Points: 5973
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 Topic: Laser-cutting gaskets
Posted: 27 Oct 2023 at 5:21am |
Hi Everybody!
So, I was passing through someplace on my way home from another place, and saw a $100 CNC laser table on Craigslist. Bought it, brought it home, hooked it up, and threw some software on a laptop...
Plugged my scanner into the laptop, and taped the remains of a gasket to a piece of white paper...
Scanned it...
Imported that picture into the laser software...
Traced it...
Placed a piece of card stock (an old file folder) under the table, and sent the trace to the laser...
It cut it into a perfect replacement gasket, prettier than I could ever do with scissors, hammer, and stamps.
Next up, is the pesky magneto cap gaskets that I'm always breaking!!! 
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Ten Amendments, Ten Commandments, and one Golden Rule solve most every problem. Citrus hand-cleaner with Pumice does the rest.
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captaindana
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Joined: 14 Sep 2009
Location: Fort Plain, NY
Points: 2545
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Posted: 27 Oct 2023 at 5:25am |
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Oh man that sounds handy Dave!
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Blue Skies and Tail Winds
Dana
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DMiller
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Joined: 14 Sep 2009
Location: Hermann, Mo
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Posted: 27 Oct 2023 at 6:24am |
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Very Sweet deal!!!
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plummerscarin
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Posted: 27 Oct 2023 at 6:30am |
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New side job?
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DaveKamp
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Location: LeClaire, Ia
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Posted: 27 Oct 2023 at 8:58am |
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Ten Amendments, Ten Commandments, and one Golden Rule solve most every problem. Citrus hand-cleaner with Pumice does the rest.
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DaveKamp
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Posted: 27 Oct 2023 at 9:07am |
Original on the left, new one (made from old file folder) on the right. little flatblade screwdriver at the bottom for general size reference.
It'll cut up to 15" square.
Side biz? Doubt it... but hey, I justify it like all the other tools in my shop- when it's Sunday, and I NEED a part, I MAKE it...
What I'll do, is... for every gasket I come across, I'll flatbed scan and scale it, and if I need one, I'll cut it, and keep the file on my server for the future. If I need another, or if someone needs one, I'll cut another... or three. It's not a big deal.
LightBurn is the program I'm using for control. The machine's laser head is about a 7w input, and it yields about 2w of beam power. I'll replace it with an 80w in /15w beam eventually, so that I can work much heavier material. In the meantime, I need to make a ventilation hood to get smoke out...
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Ten Amendments, Ten Commandments, and one Golden Rule solve most every problem. Citrus hand-cleaner with Pumice does the rest.
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DaveKamp
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Posted: 27 Oct 2023 at 9:15am |
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Ten Amendments, Ten Commandments, and one Golden Rule solve most every problem. Citrus hand-cleaner with Pumice does the rest.
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DaveKamp
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Location: LeClaire, Ia
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Posted: 27 Oct 2023 at 9:16am |
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Ten Amendments, Ten Commandments, and one Golden Rule solve most every problem. Citrus hand-cleaner with Pumice does the rest.
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JC-WI
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Location: wisconsin
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Posted: 27 Oct 2023 at 1:54pm |
Thats KOOL! Carb flange and bowl gaskets are the ones I would probably use such a tool on. LOL
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He who says there is no evil has already deceived himself
The truth is the truth, sugar coated or not. Trawler II says, "Remember that."
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Ted J
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Posted: 27 Oct 2023 at 5:52pm |
I agree (again) with JC. Those two gaskets are the ones you're always working on and breaking.  When you clean out a gas bowl, you (usually) need a new cork gasket. 
Some people have ALL the luck!! NICE find Dave!
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"Allis-Express"
19?? WC / 1941 C / 1952 CA / 1956 WD45 / 1957 WD45 / 1958 D-17
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DaveKamp
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Posted: 27 Oct 2023 at 11:48pm |
Yep. I'm gonna put the carb flange, carb bowl, magneto cap, magneto flange... all on the list... and more.
Tonight's test, is some really thick common gasket material. I have the speed dialed way down (100mm/min) and power at full snot, making 14 passes to see if it'll cut this PTO cover in thick material. There's two real 'gotchas' with doing thicker... first is plain-and-simple beam power, the other is focal point. The LED laser beam isn't a perfect collumnar beam, it actually has a focus point... which means, it may cut paper like mad, but only if it's at the exact focus... if the paper isn't sitting totally flat, then some parts will cut, other parts will not. Same goes for engraving...
But for THICK material, what this means, is that I may get a really nice cut at the top surface, but the next passes become increasingly weaker on account that the focal point was at the SURFACE, but the kerf is now deeper. The answer here, is to adjust the focus down a smidgen to move that convergiant (hot spot) down into the bottom of the kerf to eat some more material.
The fact that the beam has a slight taper, means that when I adjust the head down a smidgen to get to the bottom of the kerf, the SIDES of the cut area little too narrow to allow the beam's full girth to make it through the convergence and hit the center... instead, the beam's girth is shadowed by the sides of the kerf, leaving just a portion of the beam to focus on the bottom.
And a higher power laser makes this moot... 
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Ten Amendments, Ten Commandments, and one Golden Rule solve most every problem. Citrus hand-cleaner with Pumice does the rest.
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Coke-in-MN
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Posted: 28 Oct 2023 at 11:52am |
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Hope you got your laser glasses on while working with it .
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Faith isn't a jump in the dark. It is a walk in the light. Faith is not guessing; it is knowing something.
"Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful."
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DaveKamp
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Posted: 28 Oct 2023 at 11:55pm |
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Of course... the camera doesn't need 'em to take a picture, but the dude operating the camera certainly does...
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Ten Amendments, Ten Commandments, and one Golden Rule solve most every problem. Citrus hand-cleaner with Pumice does the rest.
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