Or you could make your own Joe. I went to the local auto parts store and his box of washers was dust covered and dern near empty. He had one washer left the size I needed, didn’t know when he would get any more in and shot me a price of $2.85 each. “$2.85 FOR ONE COPPER WASHER” was my reply and I asked if I got a kiss when I was bent over. Needless to say I told him to shove it, I’d make my own for that kind of money.
Several more Car Care, Napa and Auto Zone stores later I decided to back up my threat to make my own.
I had some .030” annealed dead soft pure copper flashing, that I had bought to practice with when I was learning about metal spinning and that seemed just perfect for washers.
I clamped a sheet between two pieces of hard wood to eliminate a burr and drilled a few dozen 7/16” holes through the sandwich. Next I cut all the hole blanks out with my snips to make 7/8” squares with a hole in the middle. Then I stacked them on a simple mandrel made from a bolt and some spacers that I chucked in the lathe, turned them to .712” which is what the bolt and old one dictated and presto, $102.60 worth of washers for the stock drawer. Now I’ll never be at the mercy of the auto parts guy again!
Check out the pics on WebShots;
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2459767600098611668bdSmCY http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2776678890098611668EYEmqI The best bet that I have found so far is like the old Geezer noted, Jimmy Carter, $2.75 for new bolt and two washers.
And I would also agree with our Electrical Engineer about reusing them. Heating copper to color and holding it there for a few seconds will anneal the washers but you still have the concentric circles that are impressed in the surface on the older components. I doubt if you could align the grooves again and chances are you are going to cross them in a few places and this presents a path for leakage.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL
Now brass sleeving the wheel cylinders task was a little more involved than the washers! But that’s another story.
