Gasket Project
Measuring, drawing, CAD modeling, CAM programming, and machining a gasket to fit a metal part
Feb. 3rd, 2023
Nathan Sun
Problem Statement
Figure 1. The Metal Part
A gasket is a sealing part often seen put in between two mated metal parts to prevent leakage; in this project, a gasket was designed based off of a metal part (part shown in Figure 1.), drawn on CAD and CNC machined using PVC boards. As an engineer, having the skill set to be able to accurately measure a given part and reverse engineer to create its design files is crucial.
Measuring & Sketching
Figure 2. Sketch of Metal Part with Measurements
A Vernier caliper was used to acquire accurate measurements and relations for future CAD drawings, after careful measurements and utilization of tricks such as diagonal measuring to calculate the draft lengths, a sketch with information enough to reproduce the part is drawn, as shown in Figure 2.
CAD Modeling & Drawing
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Figure 3. CAD Sketch
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Figure 5. CAD Drawing
Figure 4. CAD Gasket Part
Using the relations and dimensions provided by the hand sketch, a CAD sketch was drawn in SolidWorks and extruded into a 1/16'' gasket (shown in Figures 3 and 4), and the CAD drawing (Figure 5.) clearly labeled all dimensions for easier identification.
Machining & Final Part
Figure 6 CNC'd Gasket Prototype
Figure 7 CNC'd Gasket Prototype
After conversion from CAD to GCode for CNC milling machining, a PVC board was machined into the gasket. As shown in Figures 6 & 7, the gasket was a good fit to the metal part, with ideal tolerence designs.