Manafacturing Systems

Presses: Gaskets are produced at three of our sites, which, between them, host significant capacity. Apart from conventional manually operated machines, we possess a variety of the latest CNC travelling-head presses, power presses capable of handling high volume runs in flexible and semi-rigid materials, and kiss-cutting machinery specifically aimed at the adhesive backed market. As a Group these machines enable us to produce almost any type of gasket, in any volume and any material, whether flexible or rigid.

The combination of cutting speeds which enable us to handle the highest volume, single step tool change, automatic material feed and extremely high accuracy of cut, enables the Group to offer its customers technology of the highest calibre, resulting in excellent efficiency and a competitively priced, quality product.

Digitiser and Cad-Cam: Not only is it important to optimise material utilisation for environmental reasons, it is also necessary in order to remain competitive. For these reasons, we have invested heavily in nesting software to calculate optimum yields of parts. Irregular shapes can be entered into the Digitiser system from a drawing, cad image, tool or sample, which will then automatically calculate the most efficient output for the part giving the maximum material yield (and minimum waste!). At the same time the system analyses the fastest and shortest cutting route which can then be downloaded to the press for manufacture

Packaging and Distribution: Wherever possible the British Gaskets Group offer a total commitment to our customers, not only in manufacture, but also through packaging and delivery. We are able to offer our product packaged to customers specific requirements whether in individual, bulk or kit forms. This can include corporate image logos, backing boards, labels, special cases, and if necessary, bar-coding and other special identification. We also use specifically designed vacuum formers to protect fragile components.

Sub-sourced parts can be obtained to compliment multi-item gasket kits or packs such as rubber mouldings, nuts, bolts etc. Having invested significantly in specialised packaging lines and bagging machinery, we are able to supply almost every packaging requirement our customers require — even the explicit needs of our major aerospace and defence contractors.

Fabricating and Vulcanisation: Not all gaskets can be press cut for several reasons, for example, size too large, thickness too great or quantity too small. In these circumstances our Fabrication department are able to produce gaskets by hand to any shape or size using a variety of methods and skills, including hot and cold vulcanisation. Where gaskets are too large to handle in one piece, we are able to manufacture in segments with the ends ready for joining on site.

Kiss Cutting: Specialist machinery is used to produce adhesive backed parts that are supplied on continuous reels with the waste removed. This provides real advantages on assembly lines, where the cycle time is of considerable importance. Typical applications include; stick-on feet, anti-slip pads, electrical insulators, sab washers, foam pads, packing pieces, lamp bases.

Special Cutting Machinery: For cutting more difficult materials the Group are able to utilise state of the art multi-dimensional laser cutting and profiling machinery. Water-jet cutting has become a standard for cutting materials such as graphite, however new innovations in tool design have enabled us to use much more conventional methods at the fastest possible production rates ensuring our price competitiveness. Pierce and Blank cutting presses are used for the semi-rigid materials (ie Electrical Insulation types) and also for metal production. While the tools are more expensive, the production machinery used is the fastest and most accurate possible (again CNC) and parts are repeatedly produced to tolerances of ±0.05mm.

Machining: To compliment our gasket production, we also have many different machines used to fabricate parts from rod, tube, section or sheet. These include lathes, grinders, mills, routers, drills and gear-cutters. Various materials are converted using this facility, both flexible (ie tube and lathe-cut rubber washers) and rigid (ie Polyester panels, slot wedges etc).

Moulding and Extruding: Production of high volume mouldings, especially ‘O’Rings, is carried out by using multi-cavity injection moulds. This enables large quantities to be produced quickly and accurately to tight tolerances. Stocks of standard parts are held by the British Gaskets Group for off-the-shelf despatch when a quick delivery is required, or for the purposes of on-line supply systems, such as Kan-Ban or JIT. The use of multi-platen presses with compression and transfer tools allows us to offer short runs with even specialist materials being mixed at batches as small as 25kg. Extrusion facilities are used to produce sections as small as 0.5mm bore medical tubing (silicone) up to 250mm aircraft chock section for example. Hand layering of mandrel built tube produces non-standard sizes in small quantities, especially useful for lathe-cut washers that require square-cut or ground finishes.

Tooling: An important member of our Group is Masterformes Cutters, dedicated solely to the manufacturer of tooling for ourselves, other gasket manufacturers and carton makers. Using the most modern CAD-CAM machinery, drawings can be converted to production tools within a matter of minutes – to a degree of accuracy not possible using conventional methods. While designing tooling our machinery is also able to produce sample gaskets, or special ‘one-offs’ utilising the same design package – this is often a bonus for new parts that need to be tested before going into the final design stage. Our machine shop also manufactures the steel pierce and blank tooling used to cut the semi-rigid and rigid materials produced in our gasket departments.

Products

SoftCut gaskets: Our expertise in the manufacture and supply of gaskets and seals has been proven over 70 plus years of trading, resulting in established high profile customers such as Rolls Royce Aerospace, British Rail, Perkins Engines, New Holland Logistics, GEC Alstom, the Ministry of Defence and many others. The extent of materials used is almost endless but some of the most popular include; rubbers, non-asbestos, graphite, mica, cork, felt, electrical instualtion, sponge/foam, papers/boards, nylons, ptfe, plastics, metals, diaphragm materials, matting, belting (to name but a few!).

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