Union Steel Tubes provides clients with high quality ERW tube products. We are a business that wants the best for all customers. To that end, our items are made using the greatest materials. The team also tests everything thoroughly to ensure there are no faults. Plus, we choose a quick delivery service to ensure you are not waiting a long time for your orders. It all adds up to comprehensive services that meet all of your needs.
Another field we have experience in is tube cutting. It is mostly necessary to cut mill lengths into shorter sections for the final fabrication and assembly. In some cases it is necessary to automate operations and increase production. This is due to the considerable growth in projects that use tubes.
No single approach is universal for ERW tube cutting, particularly with such an extensive list of tubular shapes and materials. The kind of service you use will ultimately depend on certain requirements. What we are going to do is discuss three of the methods.
Lathe cutting
There are two methods of working here. The standard lathe has seen use for several decades. A tube feeds through a chuck-type clamping machine. Afterwards, the tube rotates and cutting tools on slide mechanisms do the work.
The other option is to use a rotary lathe. It spins a cutting head around stationary tubing. You can mount up to four cutting utensils on your rotary head. This sort of machine is able to cut the part, but it can also carry out external and internal chamfering on it.
Supported shear cutting
This technique was developed in America over five decades ago. You equip a supported shear cutting mechanism with two sections of tooling, one movable and the other stationary. Every tooling section holds an external die and internal pouch. The stationary one offers support to the tubing’s hollow interior with an internal punch. It then supports the exterior using a close-fitting exterior die. Speak to us if you need top tier ERW tube products.
The shearing sequence starts when a mil length of tubing stock loads onto the mechanism. This happens over the interior pouches and via the exterior dies of both tooling sections. There is a pusher that advances your tubes to an adjustable stop finger. You can find this behind the movable tubing. You adjust this finger to the cut length.
Once your tubing hits a pre-programmed length or stop machine, the shearing cycle starts. The material then gets sheared between the movable and stationary tooling sections. When a cutting cycle concludes, the movable section goes back to a fixed position. It is concentric with the stationary section. The next tube you are cutting then advances. Your cut segment ejects and the operation repeats.
Dual blade shear cutting
Blade shearing for ERW tube has seen use for around eight decades. Dual blade shear cutting is the successor to single blade operations. The goal with two blades is to eradicate the dimple that normally results on your tube end during single cutting. With this technique, your tubing gets held with clamping dies. Horizontal blades make an opening scarfing cut through a part of the tube wall. This is so that the vertical blade experiences less resistance and can pierce without dimpling. It is most appropriate for alloy and carbon steels.
Each tube diameter needs its own collection of clamping dies. They are hardened and ground to exact tolerances. They are relatively cost effective and you can resharpen them for as many as three million cuts. Typically there will be four clamping die sections in two groups. This lets them close and open to feed and clamp your tubes. It also offers clearance for the vertical and horizontal blades.
During the cutting procedure, the horizontal blade only removes a little bit of material. This is a necessity to generate the notch for the vertical blade to enter. The vertical blade’s initial penetration directs the slug to the tube interior.
We’ll help you get the ERW tube you need
At Union Steel Tubes, we make sure we provide every customer with the finest products. In addition, we have a steel cutting and processing service. The importance of this is that it enables us to produce tubing in random and cut lengths. It is very useful when standard tubing sizes won’t suffice.
So, if there is anything we can help you with, please get in touch. You can ask us anything about ERW tube and we will advise you. This could be about sizing, shape, finish, end us, and more.
