Rubber Washer Required...

[keymatic]

Afternoon All,

I am trying to source a flat rubber washer for a vintage washing machine i am currently restoring.

Does anyone have any contacts or know of any manufacturing companies that could possibly produce some ? The dimensions are: OD: 37mm x ID 28mm x 4mm thick.

Any help would be really appreciated.

Cheers
Keith

 

[Unimatic1140]

Does it have to be exactly that size? Can you simply order a piece of sheet rubber and cut it nearly the same size? That's what I've done in most of these situations with either rubber or cork.

 

[thatwasherguy]

I’ll second that idea…

When I restored my 1938 Maytag model 32, there were several cork seals I needed that had vanished from the face of the earth. What I wound up doing was finding some cork of the correct thickness, then taking a vintage hole saw (one of the type that have about 8 different removable blades on the same base), and cutting holes in the cork with two of the blades installed at the same time, allowing me to consistently create perfectly rounded cork rings of various sizes. I found some of the cork in a fairly unorthodox place, too. For a couple of the pieces, the cheapest way to get cork of the correct thickness was to order a package of table coasters on Amazon. You might even consider buying some washers that are the correct thickness, but that are oversized, and then trimming away the excess bits that you don’t need. I did this on a couple of the cork rings I cut, as the hole saw didn’t always have a blade for the exact dimensions that I needed. Good luck with your restoration!
Hope this helps,
Thatwasherguy.

 

[keymatic]

Hi All,

Thanks for the recommendations, i did purchase a set of hole cutters from Amazon, and some sheet rubber, however 4mm rubber can be quite thick to cut through, but that said one of the hole cutters is a 28mm hole which is the requirement for the inner hole so i guess the outer ring doesn't have to be perfect as the inner ring is the most important as this is sealing against the centre shaft.

I will have a go over the weekend and update in due course.
Many thanks
Keith