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Even for high temperature gaskets, Gasket Engineering is always looking for the most profitable part production for its clients and always considers multiple processes in order to recommend the best methodology that will help the client find the most economical process possible. Albert Diederiks, Inside Sales Account Manager explains, “It’s our responsibility to give our clients options so that they can choose the best way to go forward.”

A Heavy Duty Vehicle manufacturer recently came to the experts at Gasket Engineering recently with an interesting challenge. They needed high temperature gaskets for the right and left sides for the exhaust of a Class C truck. This was a new product for them, so they reached out to us to help engineer the product in the best way possible. They were looking for the most profitable part production for their new part. Because the gasket would be used in an extremely high heat situation, they needed something that would provide appropriate buffering capabilities while still maintaining its ability to hold up to the high heat of the engine.

MetalTech  makes fibrous gasket facing materials that are bonded to a starburst- or rectangular-style perforated steel core or have special coating like Teflon™ or other materials.  These provide excellent sealability, good load retention, crush resistance, lateral stability, more bonding points or more conformable materials that are excellent for use as exhaust gaskets, manifold gaskets, head gaskets, heat shields or other high temperature gaskets that are subject to frequent thermal cycling.  These are  highly engineered materials that can be difficult to cut.

Gasket Engineering provided them with one option to diecut the material to create the high temperature gaskets.  The engineers determined that method would produce a very clean-cut, but they also conceded that the yield would be lower and that there would be a lot of waste created using a traditional die cutting process. As they are always looking for profitable part production, that led our experts to recommend a flash cut that allowed for much closer nesting (and therefore less waste) for this expensive material.

Samples were sent to ensure that the edge was clean enough for the process required, the samples passed testing and the client was very happy with this money saving solution for their high temperature gaskets.

Do you need more profitable part production for your next project?  Give us a call at 813-363-8333.

Intricate Parts

Although the finished product will not be edible, rotary cutting can stack a variety of “ingredients” and make them as palatable to a manufacturer as the best multi-layer dip is to a party guest.

Typically used for high-speed, high volume projects that require anywhere from two to seven substrates to be joined to form a part, rotary cutting has been part of Gasket Engineering’s offerings since the 1990’s when the company made nearly 60 percent of the US-based intricate parts needed by Motorola.

What’s so great about rotary cutting?

Gasket Engineering’s advanced rotary cutting capabilities have the ability to process multiple substrates in one harmonious pass. This type of process makes a nice, clean homogenous part out of multiple materials.

But it’s much more complicated and intricate than just laminating seven layers together. You can also remove and introduce liners, use different adhesives on different sides of the materials and stack different materials on top of each other.

Clients bring us incredibly complicated and intricate parts that need to be made–ones with voids and adhesives and liners and precision requirements from every industry imaginable. That’s probably why we ask so many questions–because we want to get it right! We know that there are so many elements that need to be considered in properly making an effective part.  Our expertise in designing the proper processes is just as important as our knowledge of materials and production methodologies.

 Intricate Processes

Sequencing is important.

Our knowledge of the right process design is only secondarily critical to the finished product itself. For example, it would not be uncommon for a customer to request to have a conductive material sandwiched between two insulatory materials and then have another adhesive that is put on a liner. That material could have multiple cuts so that some of the conductive material is exposed while some of it is covered.

For these types of intricate parts, those layers have to be processed at different times and in different ways in order to be properly laminated or delaminated and have the appropriate cut patterns and adhesives laid down. That process needs to pull off scrap at the right time and make multiple cuts in multiple materials.

That’s how we make the intricate parts that are customers bring to us. Our engineer has to be my knowledgeable about the materials themselves and how best to convert them, as well as how to properly process them through one of our machines. It has to be sequenced properly so that it doesn’t negatively impact other layers or aspects of the part production. That’s why we say that the sequence is as important as the material placement.

Our experts also need to be familiar with which machines should be used for different jobs. We run our rotary cutting projects through one of two different types of machines. Our Delta presses are software driven so each station can run at independence speeds, while the Allied presses all run at the same speed. Depending on the types of parts being made and the particular requirements of those intricate parts, our engineers will recommend the right machine for the job.

No matter which machine you use, we have optic registration on all machines for maximum precision.

Have you got ayn intricate parts or tricky problems that you’d like help with? Feel free to give one of our engineers a call at 813-363-8333.  If you’d like to read more about our rotary cutting capabilities, download our free ebook about The 10 Most Important Considerations for Rotary Cutting here

Extremely tight tolerances.

That’s what one of Gasket Engineering’s aerospace customers needed for some polyester backed tape that was being cut for use on one of its military vehicles, this part was quite intricate for several different reasons.

• First, the project included 30 different shapes that need to be cut.
• Second, the parts included voids (or areas that needed to be masked off so that there would not be adhesive material in certain sections).
• Third, these pieces needed to be arranged together properly and sent to the manufacture in a certain configuration

As with all aerospace part construction, consistency, precision, and exact edges are required. Because of these tight tolerances needed, the customer was cutting these intricate pieces by hand. Each of the 30 pieces was cut using a razor blade and a cardboard template. This process insured precision but naturally took a great deal of time and care.

This aerospace customer was referred to Gasket Engineering because they are a 3M Preferred Converter. Gasket Engineering worked with the customer to transfer this intricate, Tier Two Boeing application project from a painstaking, time-consuming process to a streamlined, exact, repeatable process on Gasket Engineering’s state of the art laser cutting equipment. They were able to load the customers AutoCAD drawings of the part into one of their precision laser cutting machines and produce the polyester backed tape components with extremely clean edges in a fraction of the time that it used to take to do it manually. Tight tolerances every time! We asked 3M’s Jason Christopher about Gasket Engineering, and he had this to say: “Gasket Engineering has a broad range of excellent capabilities that not all of our 3M Preferred Converters has. They are highly creative and willing to do whatever it takes to do the job well. They are a partner who is continuously improving, adding the equipment necessary to exceed customer expectations.”

If you have a challenging component that has requirements for tight tolerances or would like help in figuring out how to streamline your production process, feel free to give one of Gasket Engineering’s sales engineers a call. You could also check out more about Gasket Engineering’s laser cutting capabilities here.