Things You'll Need:
- metal strip
- filler strips
- spot welder
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Step 1
The first step in spirally wound gasket construction is to determine which type of gasket will be best suited for your projects needs. There are four basic types of spirally wound gasket: the gasket for notched joint flange; a gasket with an inner ring for a raised face flange; a gasket with an outer ring for smoothing flat welded flange
and ; a gasket with an inner and outer rings for smoothing butt welded gaskets. Questions to ask yourself will be what are the compression specifications, heat specifications, pressure exerted, is it a raised or flat flange, and so on. Knowing all the details of your project will help you to determine which sealer will be most suited to your gasket. -
Step 2
A spiral wound gasket is manufactured by spirally winding a pre formed metal strip and a filler on the outer periphery of metal winding mandrels. The winding mandrel outside diameter forms the inner diameter of the gasket and the laminations are continually wound until the required outer diameter is attained.
The process for forming a spirally wound gasket begins by first choosing a loop of strip metal of a predetermined circumference (hence also a predetermined diameter). You must determine the required pressure applications of your gasket in order to maintain the appropriate pressure during the winding process. As a general rule, low winding pressure and thick soft fillers are used for low pressure applications. Thin fillers and high pressure loads are used for high pressure applications. -
Step 3
Step three requires simultaneously spirally winding the loop of metal in convolutions and simultaneously welding or adhering the metal to the previous underlying strip. During the winding process maintain pressure on the metal strips and make sure to lay asbestos strips or whatever filler is appropriate to your specifications in between each loop of metal.
