First let me apologize that this post is so pic heavy. It was time to replace the gaskets again on my insert and I decided to try making my gasket. I had done something similar several years ago on my Big Green Egg except on the Egg I used the high heat Ultra Copper RTV. For the insert, I wanted gray or black instead of red or copper. The gray or black stuff isn’t rated at as high of a temp but I found this stuff rated at 500*. If it doesn’t hold up long term, I’ll redo it with some higher temp stuff. First I had to clean up the old gasket material. A wire wheel made short work of that. Next I had to make a pattern to make a mold for the new gasket with a router. I used some hot glue to put some foam backer rod in the gasket channel. Applied a little grease to the foam to transfer the shape to some MDF. I measured the center of my router collet to the edge of the base at 2 7/8”. I cut a piece of paint stir stick and transferred the measurement to some hard board and flexed a ruler to get the arc. I figured out the thickness needed for the gasket and set my router depth. I found that I had to make a 2 7/8” extension block to route each side to get the corners right other wise the corners would have a big sweeping arc. I used the extension to route the full length of each leg then move the block to the next leg. I also had to route each leg in two passes because the depth was more than the bit height. I sprayed some WD40 in the channel as a release agent. Since the board soaked it up, I sprayed a few times and went heavy on the last application and began to fill the channel while it was still wet. Then smoothed the silicone with a putty knife scraping off the excess. I let it dry over night and pulled it from the mold. I used a small screwdriver to help work it loose from the mold. I’ll follow up in another post with the install and the process on the other door.
After a test fit, I found that I needed to trim up the corners for a proper fit. I cleaned the new gasket and the door channel with some Chemtool degreaser. Applied some silicone to set the new gasket. A little tape to hold it in place and put the door back on the insert to dry. The process for the other door was mostly the same but the top and bottom were a little longer so I had to add a little extension to my pattern before routing. I made the center piece between the two doors on a separate piece because the orientation of the channel was opposite. I had to cut out the notch on the center piece for the door latch then installed the gasket. I made the center piece longer to make the seal at the top and bottom. I reinstalled the door for curing. The gasket seemed to compress nicely with the door closed. I’ll hang on to the molds in case I need to remake the gaskets out of different material but I’m hoping this lasts a good long time.
Nice work! Definitely keep the molds, of you went through the work of making them, there's no reason to not keep them. If the gasket holds up, at least make a few more of you were to think about scrapping the molds you made.
