brown paper bag

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110HLW
Posts: 88
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 5:48 pm
Location: St Louis area

brown paper bag

Post by 110HLW »

I have heard of people using brown paper bags as gasket material. Does this work and would it work for my steam chests of my ten wheeler? I don't like permatex.

Corey
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Stuie
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Joined: Sat Aug 20, 2011 7:25 pm
Location: Copehagen, Denmark

Re: brown paper bag

Post by Stuie »

In the old days some people used oil soaked news paper, so I would say yes as long as you soak it in oil. I found a couple of these old gaskets on my locomotive when I rebuilt some parts recently. The locomotive was built in 1959 and the gaskets still worked, albeit they crumbled and fell apart when I removed the cylinder heads. One piece had been the header of the newspaper and happened to have a date from 1958! With a brown paper bag being a more fibrous type of paper it may not work. It might just take some experimenting!
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daveb
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Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2008 2:46 pm
Location: Kennebunk Me

Re: brown paper bag

Post by daveb »

Hi Corey

I'm building a Kozo Shay and he calls for brown paper(0.1mm) soaked in oil for all pressure joints.
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rrtrax4501
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Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2007 9:00 pm
Location: Midwest / St louis

Re: brown paper bag

Post by rrtrax4501 »

Bob Paule taught me to use brown paper grocery bags, and get them oiled up, it's suprizing how well they have held up. I have had the cylinders apart many time and used the same ones over and over, with no leaks! Corey please give me a call at 618-980-9436 I have a question for you about the SLLS. Steve
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cbrew
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Re: brown paper bag

Post by cbrew »

i know its a little out of scope, but believe it or not, High Temperature Red RTV Silicone Gasket Maker is all i use for my locos
it just a take a very little to seal up the mating surfaces
If it is not live steam. its not worth it.
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Loco112
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Location: Dallas ,Texas. USA

Re: brown paper bag

Post by Loco112 »

You can buy sheet gasket material at the auto parts houses.

The sheet I used to make an old AMC waterpump gasket out of had paper fibers in it, but it also had some flexible and compressible property to it.
DavidF
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Location: Delaware

Re: brown paper bag

Post by DavidF »

how about some teflon film? they have it as thin as .002" on up. See bottom of this page http://www.mcmaster.com/#sheets-(made-w ... e)/=sr812q
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tsph6500
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Re: brown paper bag

Post by tsph6500 »

Traditionally a brown paper grocery bag or banknote was used with cylinder oil. The currency denomination was optional. :wink: Now that Canada has plastic bills up to $100 and most stores use only plastic bags… I use either automotive gasket paper available at Canadian Tire stores or some old Garlock for heavy duty applications. You can keep the various goops.
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Pontiacguy1
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Re: brown paper bag

Post by Pontiacguy1 »

I've used the paper bags to make gaskets on several locomotives over the years, and for several small pumps. I don't soak it in oil, I just smear a very thin coat of gasket sealer (silicone) on there and button it all up. Has worked very good for me, and the price is right. You can still ask for paper bags at most of the smaller grocery stores.

I use gasket making material for most of the larger gaskets. I typically use the blue stuff that is used for automotive water pumps. That works good, and you can get it in several different thicknesses.
10 Wheeler Rob
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Re: brown paper bag

Post by 10 Wheeler Rob »

Where I used oil soaked paper on engine models which I run on air they leak slightly, maybe the steam swells the fiber. I used 5 mil thick Teflon (TM) on my ten Wheeler steam chest.

I have been told paper coated with schallack seals well.
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John_S
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Re: brown paper bag

Post by John_S »

We ran a card-order session at our RR last year and I was scheduled to run passenger service. As soon as I hit ~80lbs my steam dome gasket started leaking. It's automotive gasket material, as mentioned previously, from Ace Hardware.

I rummaged around and found a brown paper grocery bag in our section house, cut a new gasket, coated it with steam oil, and replaced the dome gasket with it.

Worked like a champ with no leaks at all. About a month later I replaced it with the real gasket material. The only downside was that it flaked off in a million little pieces -- a rag stuffed in the steam dome kept them from winding up inside the boiler.
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Loco112
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Re: brown paper bag

Post by Loco112 »

Remember; if your gasket absorbs water, it will probably lead to rust on any cast iron surface that it contacts, if left over a long period of time.

In a pinch anyhting goes!
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