\"reinventing wheel\"???

Hey All, I don't know if this is something all you old timers know but I think I may have a new tip. It seems that getting gaskets for these old bikes is getting pretty hard/expensive/slow. I was able to get a complete set of engine gaskets and scanned them into the computer. Some are too big to get the whole thing scanned in one pass, on my home scanner but I scanned multiple times and put the parts together, using "photo chop" or you use a bigger scanner. I think you could probably even use some printers to print directly on some thicknesses of gasket paper, or just print on regular paper and use as a stencil. Scanning the orings and seals can also aid you in matching up replacements. Anyway,I don't think I've "reinvented the wheel" w/this idea but thought I'd pass it along.
Thanks for previous help
Ron

i used to rebuild my (and everyone else) auto carbs all the time..if i needed a gasket i would make one from a cereal box..worked like a charm. but i like your idea better!! that was some good thinking. patterns on hand at all times.

A note of caution for anyone thinking about buying NOS gaskets on eBay.
Keep in mind that NOS means New Old Stock, and those things are 30 or so years old,
Gaskets dry out and get brittle over time, and then they break.

I no longer bid on Kawasaki OEM gasket sets for that reason.

steell wrote:

A note of caution for anyone thinking about buying NOS gaskets on eBay.
Keep in mind that NOS means New Old Stock, and those things are 30 or so years old,
Gaskets dry out and get brittle over time, and then they break.

I no longer bid on Kawasaki OEM gasket sets for that reason.

sage advice...thanks.

arobsum said...
"... but i like your idea better!! that was some good thinking. patterns on hand at all times."


Thanks arobsum, appriciate it

steel said...
"A note of caution for anyone thinking about buying NOS gaskets on eBay.
Keep in mind that NOS means New Old Stock, and those things are 30 or so years old,
Gaskets dry out and get brittle over time, and then they break"

Good thought, Steve, the oil pan gasket in my set was torn. It is an Athena set, bought on ebay. I didn't notice it until I opened the set, by then too late to say anything. IMO, another good reason to make your own gaskets, when you can.

Ron

That's using your head!...Great idea!

ronjones wrote:

Hey All, I don't know if this is something all you old timers know but I think I may have a new tip. It seems that getting gaskets for these old bikes is getting pretty hard/expensive/slow. I was able to get a complete set of engine gaskets and scanned them into the computer. Some are too big to get the whole thing scanned in one pass, on my home scanner but I scanned multiple times and put the parts together, using "photo chop" or you use a bigger scanner. I think you could probably even use some printers to print directly on some thicknesses of gasket paper, or just print on regular paper and use as a stencil. Scanning the orings and seals can also aid you in matching up replacements. Anyway,I don't think I've "reinvented the wheel" w/this idea but thought I'd pass it along.
Thanks for previous help
Ron

ronjones wrote:

Hey All, I don't know if this is something all you old timers know but I think I may have a new tip. It seems that getting gaskets for these old bikes is getting pretty hard/expensive/slow. I was able to get a complete set of engine gaskets and scanned them into the computer.
Ron

Whoa....
You know, you wouldn't even need a gasket set for most of them, just put the part with the surface that needs a gasket on your scanner bed, and Viola!! a gasket template.
ronjones,you are a friggin' genius!!

pstrbrc wrote:

Whoa....
You know, you wouldn't even need a gasket set for most of them, just put the part with the surface that needs a gasket on your scanner bed, and Viola!! a gasket template.
ronjones,you are a friggin' genius!!

Bruce, wow, the only one who ever thought I was a genius was my wife...that is, before we married . Scanning the parts is also a good idea, you may have contrast problems, though. Thanks for the compliments guys. Growing up in the inner city, in a time before LBJ's "Great Society" welfare as a Right, I've always tried to think of a cheap way to solve an expensive problem. To quote my dad "Make your own damn toys" has always been a motto...of sorts.

ronjones
Here's something that might help. You can scan your part or just recreate a profile by measuring. I recreate parts all the time and most manufactures using metrics have made it fairly easy. Most will design using 1 mm as a min increment and sometimes go down to .5 mm. I have seen down to .25 mm but not often.
I'll measure a part and print it on a good printer at 1:1 scale then compare to my part( exp. gasket) then adjust it ( maintaining the min. mm dimension)and reprint. I'll repete this untill I get an exact reproduction. I've done this in 2D and 3D and it works, for parts with complex surfaces I use a CMM but can almost always just use simple geomety extracted by measuring. For gaskets you can get almost any material you'll need from McMasters and I use a Waterjet to cut them. If you have a gasket with complex geomety which is too hard to cut by hand you could send me the old one and I'll make you one. I don't charge for favors, so you would owe me one. thebull