Making holes in gaskets
Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2017 9:09 am
I was waiting in the lobby for pills the other day when my wife handed me a Popular Hot Rodding Magazine so I started thumbing through it when I ran onto a tip for cutting holes in gasket material.
This is an adjustable diameter wood drill and, if you are careful, you can adjust the cutting edge to the diameter of the hole. Put the point in the center then slowly rotate the bit to score your hole then apply a light pressure to cut through the material. Adding too much pressure can cause the cutter to dig in and the material to move or fold up so restraint must be used.
I also have used another version of this with a larger diameter capability (it was the "beam" style) to carefully cut a large hole in my Black Buggy's fiberglass body for access to the fuel neck. Remember, the larger the diameter the slower you have to go.
Using hole templates with a scalpel blade, Exacto blade or other pointed sharp blades can be used to cut the hole but care must be taken not to damage the template. A box knife w/a new blade will also work but it is so big and bulky that you can quickly and easily damage the plastic hole template.
Lee
This is an adjustable diameter wood drill and, if you are careful, you can adjust the cutting edge to the diameter of the hole. Put the point in the center then slowly rotate the bit to score your hole then apply a light pressure to cut through the material. Adding too much pressure can cause the cutter to dig in and the material to move or fold up so restraint must be used.
I also have used another version of this with a larger diameter capability (it was the "beam" style) to carefully cut a large hole in my Black Buggy's fiberglass body for access to the fuel neck. Remember, the larger the diameter the slower you have to go.
Using hole templates with a scalpel blade, Exacto blade or other pointed sharp blades can be used to cut the hole but care must be taken not to damage the template. A box knife w/a new blade will also work but it is so big and bulky that you can quickly and easily damage the plastic hole template.
Lee