{"id":2087,"date":"2017-10-10T07:04:27","date_gmt":"2017-10-10T14:04:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/?p=2087"},"modified":"2021-02-11T08:15:46","modified_gmt":"2021-02-11T16:15:46","slug":"re-use-a-helicoflex-gasket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/re-use-a-helicoflex-gasket\/","title":{"rendered":"Reusing a Helicoflex gasket"},"content":{"rendered":"

Can you re-use a Helicoflex gasket?\u00a0 The answer is yes, sometimes.<\/p>\n

A Helicoflex gasket uses the concept of plastically deforming to seal between two flat and polished surfaces instead of the much more common knife edge seal used with copper gaskets and CF flanges.<\/p>\n

On Physical Electronics X-ray Photoelectron spectrometers Helicoflex gaskets are used on the monochromator, the SCA (spherical capacitive analyzer) and the LS specimen stage.<\/p>\n

Here is a link to information on how a Helicoflex gasket works –\u00a0 http:\/\/technetics.com\/products\/sealing-solutions\/metal-seals\/helicoflex-delta\/<\/a><\/p>\n

First of all, Helicoflex gaskets are designed to be used only once.\u00a0\u00a0 However,\u00a0 since these gaskets are expensive it may be worth trying to reuse it as long as you have a new gasket on hand in case the trick I will show\u00a0 you in this blog post does not work.\u00a0 My success rate with this trick is about 50%.\u00a0 RBD Instruments provides most of the Helicoflex gaskets used on PHI XPS systems.<\/p>\n

For this example, I will attempt to make it possible to reuse a monochromator gasket as shown in the picture below.<\/p>\n

\"monochromator_gasket\"

Note that once compressed, the center surface of the gasket is flattened out.<\/p>\n

\"better_view_of_flat_area\"

Step one is to uncompress the gasket.\u00a0\u00a0 To do that, find a spot on the outside edge of the gasket where you can insert a small screw driver and gently spread open the two lips of the gasket enough to get a large flat head screwdriver inside.<\/p>\n

\"insert_small_screwdriver\"

Then, carefully work the large flat head screw driver around the perimeter of the gasket until the entire gasket is un-compressed.\u00a0 Try not to deform the edges of the slit.<\/p>\n

\"insert_large_screwdriver\"

During this process the gasket will become deformed.\u00a0 Use a round surface such as a Philips screwdriver to smooth out the bumps without re-compressing the gasket.<\/p>\n

\"smooth_out\"

Next, using a very fine emery cloth (I used some 30uM 3M sand paper) smooth out the edges of the flat surface on the gasket.\u00a0 You just want to break the edges, not make it round.<\/p>\n

\"break_edge_on_flat\"

Clean the gasket with isopropanol or methanol to remove the small particles.<\/p>\n

\"clean_with_IPA\"

Finally, use a small amount of Apiezon<\/a> L or other HV or UHV vacuum grease to the surface of the gasket (on the flat area).\u00a0\u00a0 You want to use a very small amount and spread it out evenly.\u00a0 The vacuum grease will help to fill in any small scratches.\u00a0\u00a0 Wipe off the inside and outside of the gasket.\u00a0\u00a0 You only want a small amount on the flat area.<\/p>\n

\"small_amount_of_vacuum_grease\"

You are now ready to install the gasket.\u00a0\u00a0 Good luck!<\/p>\n

The gasket that I used in this blog post did seal fine, so I got lucky.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post shows a method for re-using a Helicoflex gasket. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2103,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[164],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-optics-and-vacuum"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/monochromator_gasket.jpg?fit=972%2C648&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2DEXo-xF","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2087"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3137,"href":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2087\/revisions\/3137"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rbdinstruments.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}