Before Hautau unveiled its innovative rotary head lathe, the conventional method of close-tolerance tube and pipe cutting centered upon lathes with a fixed, stationary tool that would cut one end as the workpiece rotated – the rotating tube lathe approach.
For many years these conventional lathes were the only game in town, but they had drawbacks.
The workpiece could not be fully-chamfered on both ends. Because the tube rotates, tube-feeding methods were limited and led to inaccurate cuts. Tube marking and scratching were common, and the spinning tubes and associated noise and vibration were dangerous, especially if the tubes were bowed. And the tube collets and guide tubes had to be changed out for each diameter.
A Better Approach With Better Results
The Hautau brothers had a better solution. The sons of innovative inventor Charles Hautau Sr., Fred and Charlie carried on the family tradition of pioneering machinery for more than 40 years – much of it in building tube cutting and processing machines.
Their idea was to design a lathe in which the workpiece is held stationary while a rotary headstock cuts and chamfers both ends simultaneously. The results revolutionized the industry.
In just one process, the workpiece are cut to precise length and both ends are chamfered inside and out. There’s no need for a secondary process.
There were additional improvements provided by the rotary head lathe approach.
- A laser-detected tube loader allows the leading end of the tube to faced and chamfered, which eliminates the need to trim the tube and waste material.
- The servo-hydraulic tube feeding system is far more accurate than the traditional method, which used a hard stop. With the hard stop, any number of reasons, including the workpiece bouncing back or stopped too soon by a shaving or other material lodged in the infeed system, could cause inaccurate cuts.
- Chamfer depths can be different on the leading and trailing ends.
- Grooves can be machined or roll-formed anywhere along the tube.
- Multiple cut lengths can be made in one fast setup
- For fastest cutting, up to four cutoff tools can share the cutting load.
- The full-range tube chucks handle the full diameter range without changeover.
For the cleanest and most efficient tube and pipe cutting service, call Hautau.
Simply put, Hautau’s rotary-head tube cutoff lathe is the more advanced way to cut tube and pipe. With a complete line of rotary-head lathes available, there’s a Hautau solution for you.
And if you need a special tube handling system, Hautau engineers will develop a custom system that’s guaranteed to meet your specifications.
Get in touch with Hautau for your pipe and tube cutting needs. They’ll talk with you about your manufacturing application and will develop and individualized processing plan for you.
To learn more about Hautau’s process and how they can help you, call (765) 647-1600 or get in touch online.