Once again it’s McMaster-Carr to the rescue. I ordered a sheet of 1/64″ +400°F aramid fiber gasket (McMaster P/N 9470K36). Now the only problem was how to cut the gaskets.

Initially, I thought I was going to have to make a punch and die to hammer out the gaskets, but then I though a laser might make quick work of these parts. Luckily, I had an 80W CO₂ laser available to me, but there are hundreds of laser service bureaus out there (for example Ponoko) that will do cutting for a reasonable fee.

I ended up cutting 50 gaskets in under 5 minutes.

The gaskets easily punched out of the sheet, but the laser did leave a little bit of charred residue along the cuts.

I stacked the 50 gaskets on a couple of 5/16″ drill bits and used a toothbrush to remove the chared residue. A few minutes of brushing and they cleaned up very nicely.

All done, with a few extra in case I decide to build that 18-cylinder.

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All material, including the CAD drawings, relating to the construction of the Hodgson Radial presented on this site is free to use any way you see fit. However, no guarantees are made regarding the accuracy or correctness of the material presented here.