Spares / Seals for 1/2" Flood Coolant Pipework

The "concave" is actually kinda important depending on usage and pressure. The concave allows the seal to expand under pressure and should be installed so that it is facing the fluid/air side or it will leak once pressure is applied.
 
Having had a proper look, the washers I need are 0.5" x 0.63" x 0.1". I believe they were all propbably the same size but many are distorted by compression within the fitting.

The tap washers I got are very similar material 0.5" x 0.72" x 0.1", so in theory I can turn these down to size. However the material is pretty soft, especially as it warms a little and difficult to cut.

I've made up a mandrel and tried turning and sanding these down on the lathe. Sandpaper generates too much heat, but a sharp carbide bit seems to work provided I don't do too much at a time and allow things to cool back down...

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if you over do it the washers go soft, distort and split...

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Guessing I will just have to be patient and go slowly, but any tips would be most welcome :)
 
All done, dusted and back up and running - it all took rather longer than planned (a common feature in most of my projects), but I was able to turn down and use the cheap tap washers, so done cheaply and with no leaks on the reassembled flood cooling pipework.

A little trial and error, but freezing 6-7 washers on the mandrel allowed me to take 5-6 passes to reduce the OD from 0.72 to 0.64". Better to do this quickly, but the end result was uniform and clean.

It was a bit of a job reassembling and tightening the joints and I burred some of the knurling - must add a little strap wrench to the toolbox. However the joints are firm but move smoothly and don't leak. It's a little old school, but it works well and I can work with this. Though I might simply fashion an adaptor to allow me to add a modern flexible outlet on the end if required (I did buy 12 from China for little money, but will probably use these on the mill).

Couple of videos if anyone wants to see the washers being turned or the finished job. Thanks to everyone for their tips and suggestions with this.


 
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