Lathe Cut Washers.
Cannon Gasket lathe-cuts washers in EPDM, Neoprene, silicone, Nitrile, Viton, FDA, and USP Class VI grades under ISO 9001 controls. Send OD, ID, thickness, material, and quantity. We quote pricing, tooling cost if needed, and production lead time.
- When flatbed die cutting cannot hold the OD, ID, and thickness tolerance a bolted joint needs, lathe cutting takes over.
- Automotive, aerospace, medical, industrial, and fluid-handling assemblies all spec lathe cut washers for tight-tolerance cylindrical seals.
- Tube stock gets extruded, then turned on a CNC lathe. The result is a flat, square-edge ring in rubber or plastic.
Request a quote for custom lathe cut washers.
Why choose lathe-cut washers?
Lathe cut washers are often chosen as an alternative to O-rings because of their square wall and superior sealing capabilities. Lathe cutting is a precision process for producing washers, O-rings, and seals from tube or rod stock. By turning the material on a precision lathe and parting off to thickness, we achieve tighter ID, OD, and thickness tolerances than flatbed or rotary die cutting, and eliminate the parting lines associated with molded O-rings.
Lathe cut washers are manufactured from extruded tube, mandrel built or molded rubber tube. Unlike die-cutting calendared rubber, lathe cutting gives you the ability to cut parts that otherwise would be too thick to die-cut, or parts requiring non standard thickness that would not be achievable from calendared rubber.
When to specify lathe-cut over die-cut
Lathe cutting is the preferred process when tight ID/OD concentricity is required, when parting lines are unacceptable, or when the cross-section tolerance is tighter than flatbed cutting can achieve. It is also well-suited to low-to-medium volume production runs where tooling cost for a molded O-ring is not justified.
Lathe-cut washer tolerances
Lathe-cut washers and seals can be produced to tolerances of ±0.001" to ±0.005" on OD, ID, and thickness depending on material. This is significantly tighter than typical die-cut tolerances and approaches machined-part precision.
Pad printing. Individual parts can be labeled for identification purposes. We have the ability to pad print your part number, identification marking, or company name on each gasket. Various colors of ink are available. Marking per customer specifications or MIL-STD-130.
Packaging. Parts can be bagged and tagged into specific quantities and labeled with P/N or any required information, with the capability to meet any specific packaging or labeling requirements.