Universal Gaskets is a manufacturer focused on making die and machine-cut shapes and gaskets and other sealing solutions from flat-materials for the mining industry.
For over 40 years Universal Gaskets has manufactured high-quality pipe flange gaskets, diaphragms, heat and electrical shields, seals, spacers, packers, slip pads, filters, metal and non-metallic washers and other shapes for industry. We also stock a range of spiral wound gaskets, compression packings and O-rings.
Our customers are manufacturers, wholesalers and service providers in many industries including transport, water and wastewater treatment, power generation and distribution, oil and gas processing, industrial maintenance, hardware, healthcare, electrical, electronics, air conditioning, mining, defence, consumer goods, and many others. We sell nationally and export to Oceania, south-east Asia, China and India.
Short lead times for die and machine-cut shapes and gaskets
We manufacture to order, but we offer short delivery times as we have a wide variety of machine tools and tooling and we keep an extensive range of materials in stock. In an emergency we can design and make a tool and deliver a product within hours.
We procure our materials and sell our products nationally and internationally. We prefer to source our materials locally; however where we have sufficient volume and/or where we cannot find a reliable supplier, we procure materials globally, mainly from China, the UK and the US.
Hydraulic and mechanical presses for die and machine-cut shapes and gaskets
Universal Gaskets employs a variety of manual and computer-controlled hydraulic and mechanical presses. To cut shapes we use compound dies, punches, steeled frames and ring tools that are appropriate for the finished product and the order quantity.
Short run orders for dedicated tooling
Once-off and short run orders do not normally justify the expense of designing and making dedicated tools. We hand-cut or use CNC machines to cut these orders to contain costs and keep our prices competitive.
Our in-house tool room designs, fabricates and maintains our tools ensuring we can provide innovative tooling solutions to minimize costs and manufacturing times. The tool room maintains our tools in a premium condition to ensure they produce a first-class product.
Tooling for full-face and raised-face flange pipe gaskets, washers, rings and bespoke shapes
Over the last 40 years we have accumulated tooling to manufacture a wide range of products, including:
- A full range of UK, German, US, Japanese and Australian standard full-face and raised-face flange pipe gaskets
- Specialized full-face and raised-face flange pipe gaskets to suit specific equipment
- Shapes manufactured to our customers’ specific requirements
- An extensive range of washers and rings
Our tool room makes tools from CAD files, samples, templates, drawings or directly from the machine element to be sealed.
Gasket materials
There are many materials that may be used to make a gasket. The material selection will depend on the required functionality of the gasket and its operating conditions.
For piping gaskets, the compound of the gasket must be selected to be compatible with operation conditions of the flange: temperature, pressure, and characteristics of the material being conveyed (for instance oils will attack some compounds and not others and the same can be said for bases and acids).
Also important is whether the material can be contained by the gasket material; for example, only a few products are approved for food and/or potable water.
Thin or thick gaskets
Generally, thinner gaskets seal better than thicker gaskets and the gasket thickness selected will usually depend on the surface finish and alignment of the flanges. If the surface finish of the mating flanges is poor and/or they are poorly aligned a softer and/or thicker gasket material may be considered.
Heat shields, electrical insulators and diaphragms
In other applications, such as for heat shields, electrical insulators and diaphragms, other properties and parameters are important and the selection criteria for each may vary significantly.