It might be worth looking at small laser engraver/ cutters, there seems to be quite a few available between £100 and £200.  I would look very closely at the thickness of materials that can cut.

Rod

Andrew,

Have you considered 3D printing the gaskets?  Apparently, TPU is suitable for low-temperature areas like the inlet and crankcase and a carbon reinforced filament could be drafted in for the exhaust, etc.

John

Have you seen this ?  Set yourself up and advertise your services on this site ???

https://store.creality.com/uk/products/creality-falcon-a1-enclosed-laser-engraver-cutter

On 21 January 2026 at 14:40 Andrew Tinsley Said:

I assume you need some sort of CAD to input the design to the cutter, if so, that will bump up the cost and include a learning curve?

Andrew.

Yes, just like a 3D printer if you want anything that is not available as a download you need to be able to produce a CAD file to get what you want. Need not cost anything but you will need to learn though flat gaskets should not be too complicated.

Myself I tend to use  aliquid gasket on my IC and stationary engines.

For thin paper like you get on model aero engines then holding the paper on the actual metal part and drawing a needle file backwards over the edge is quite an effcetive way to cut to the required shape, I do that for masking when painting. Similar to Fulmen’s method but won’t bruise the diecast alloy

As for hole you might want to consider one of the small punch & die sets that the plastic model guys use, they work much like a hole punch for filing A4 paper but have a range of small sizes. Loads on the web if you google but this sort of thing which you could even make.