gasket making model engine paper

None of the techniques here are of my design. They are based on articles and books
I have read. Nevertheless they work for me, so perhaps they make help you.

I had to make a gasket for the Mills diesel 1.3cc engine I am building, to Ron
Chernich's plans and article, as published in issue 1, Model Engine Builder. The
gasket required is square in shape with a large central hole for the cylinder liner, and
4 holes for the securing bolts.

I decided that the best approach was to make two seperate punches and then
having a cutting mat underneath, give the punches sharp taps until cut.

The method of making punches is not limited to round shapes, its the cutting edge
thats the important issue.

To make the gasket I turned steel bar on the lathe to the correct diameter for the
holes. For the large hole, the centre was turned down leaving a taper edge (see
photo). For the small holes the diameter was very small, so the cutting edge was
formed by centre drilling the bar, then using a larger drill than the bar diameter.

If there were several gaskets to cut, I would use tool steel, and harden the cutting
edge, but because I was using the cutting mat and only a couple of gaskets, I used
ordinary bright metal steel (bms).

To help centre the punch, the dimensions of the outside square was drawn on the
gasket material (bought from Reeve's - Birmingham) then two lines joined the
corners in a cross. To locate the 4 holes these were marked in pencil after the centre
hole was cut and the gasket placed over the cylinder liner.

And that was that. Quite painless really.......well this time at least......