A fabricator of hydraulic tube assemblies needed a more efficient way to cut and chamfer tubing for crimp fittings. Their tube saws left burrs and small shavings, and their lathe-type cutoff machines couldn’t chamfer all tube ends. As a result, tube chamfering and de-burring operations were needed. Production runs were often small, and they cut many different tube sizes, so long changeover time was also a problem. And because the tubes spin for cutting there was OD marking of the tubes, and bowed tubes created a safety hazard if they spun out of the tube guides.
We combined our RC30 Rotating-Head Cutoff Machine with our indexing tube loader to load and cut tubes with no loader adjustments, plus the loader can stage several tube sizes at once to eliminate material handling delays between jobs and sizes. Changeovers are fast throughout the size range.
With our RC machines, the tube is held stationary and the cutoff tools spin, and the ID/OD chamfering is done right at the cut line. Cutting is safer and quieter than with conventional tube lathes, and the tube surface isn’t scratched by support wheels. Up to 10 cut lengths can programmed so material use is optimized and scrap is reduced.
How it works . . .
- Tubes are cut and chamfered, ID and OD, both ends of each tube.
- The indexing tube loader assures a reliable tube supply, large or small.
- The runout system accumulates the cut tubes for inspect and packing.
- Trim cuts and remnants are separated from good parts.
- Material optimization software adjusts lengths to reduce scrap.
Capability . . .
- Tube diameter range: 3/8″ to 3.0″
- Wall thickness: .020″ to solid bar
- Cut lengths: .5″ to 120″
- Up to 10 cut lengths per tube