Allstar Adhesives

Intro to Gasketing

There are two main concepts for gasketing:  Grid/Pod gasketing and Spoilboard/Fixture gasketing. 

Grid/Pod Gasketing
Grid/Pod gasketing is the material, depending on the type of router that you use, that would fit into the channels of your router bed table under the spoilboard, or into the channels of your point-to-point pods.  It is intended to rise above the surface of your table/pod by roughly 1/16”.  By putting gasketing around the perimeter of this area, it ensures that there will not be any air leaks through the sides of your vacuum area.  Instead, it will focus the vacuum flow down through the intended area.

Spoilboard/Fixture Gasketing
After gasketing your table/pod, the idea of using fixture gasketing is next.  The concept of doing spoilboard gasketing is not for every customer.  When routing large parts, most router operators will tell you that no gasketing is needed.  And All*Star agrees.   But when parts become smaller and/or narrower, a greater emphasis is needed on maintaining a vacuum seal.  That is where spoilboard gasketing comes into play.

Our line of spoilboard gasketing products vary in three major ways: Thickness, width and density.  While the products and applications may change, the concept behind each item remains the same.  It is to create a perimeter of gasketing that, when compressed, will produce an air-tight seal.  That air-tight seal produces a suction-cup-type hold on the part that is being gasketed.

Density, Thickness & Width
Our foam products share three common traits: Density, Thickness & Width.  Each characteristic plays its own important roll in producing quality parts on a CNC Router.  Product Codes follow this format:

CR 06 38

 

Width:   The tighter the radius that must be made by the tooling the narrower the width of the sealant should be.

Thickness:   The more warp or texture in the cutting surface the more thickness is needed.Thinner is better than thicker.

Density:  Match the mass of the material being cut to the firmness of the sealant with consideration for the strength of your routers’s specific vacuum strength. Firmer density is better than softer density.