Economical Pipe cutting

I'd think a CNC lathe. Parting tool, and a real light chucking pressure, punch those puppies out pretty quick and well within tolerance on the length.

For personal use

For production you may want to check these guys out

http://www.cdsmachines.com/en/tube-cutting.aspx

Yeah, yeah Techno. But I like my pic better.

or this,

cr3

Maybe you could find a used powered band saw such as the DoAll brand or similar. They have been sold all over the world.

It might help if we knew how many parts you are cutting each day.

Are you looking for a PLC to program and control the opoeration? An automated comveyor to load?

TANSTAAFL

GUYS... Look at the tolerance +/-.1 mm Those hand cutters won't work.

For squareness, yes they will be accurate enough, however, for length,we would need a production device such as in my link in post 2.

http://www.bii1.com/coldsaws.htm

A cold saw leaves very little burr & the blade is rigid enough for the tolerance required.

We are already using powered band saws but accuracy in length is maximum achieved +/- 0.2mm which rejects some parts as need +/- 0.1mm and taper cutting is also an issue in band saw cutting.We need to cut apprx 2million parts per year.

Since your requirement is huge, Laser cutting, atomized and with proper fixuring will help you to get required accuracy, consistency, productivity, cost economy in cutting. You can forget about initial cost input and it will pay you back in the long run.

Sridhar

The Spec sheet here claims 400 cuts per minute.

http://www.cdsmachines.com/rc.pdf

Can You think of using laser cutting. Even though the investment is required initially, it is said to be more accurate faster than plasma (both air & Argon) provided the cutting requirement is bulk and continuous. Even plasma or mechanical cutting may not provide the accuracy you are asking for. Plasma is second best with very less distortion and economical.

Sridhar.

Just curious, why would you need to cut pipe in production quantities to such tight tolerences? You mentioned wall thickness but what is the diameter you are working with?

My interest is professional. I am a plumber by trade and am always interested in ways to make my own operations more efficient. A few years ago I had a need to cut lengths of Sch. 40 steel pipe into 10 inch lengths for precast sleeves, and found that a carbide toothed blade designed for the application, and mounted on a "chop saw" worked very well. Our tolerences were not so critical, but I am sure that if there was a need we could get very close to that.

Actually these are bushes to be cut out from pipes and will be used in manufacturing engine mounts for automotive applications so accuracy in length is required.Quantities are huge about 2 million bushes per year.

bushings??

Cheapest? Probably farm it out to a screw machine company. Screw machines are the most competitive business next to cabinet making.

In house? Get a used Brown and Sharpe screw machine. Get advice from coolant manufactures. Cutting off is a high pressure job. If using HSS tools be sure to use Empire type cutoff tools. The tapered ones suck. Maybe you can use a carbide insert cutoff tool. That should speed things up considerably and is cheaper in the long run but management won't like the cost of the inserts.

Have you concidered a CNC band saw the accuracy on some of these is very precise i work with a Jaespa compact 4 and the feed accuracy and the squareness of the cut are amazing. Check them out www.tedmachines.com.

With quantities like that a cut off lathe is probably in order. New or used? That would depend on whether or not your organization is capable of setting up and getting into production a used machine since you can't be really sure what you are getting. I can't say about the new ones but used ones are quite expensive. You will find very few bargans.

The automatic saws are good and now we have what is called bundling. You can cut large bundles of materal automaticly.

For either process you will probably have the need for deburring. A large vibratory deburring tub may be in order. Be sure to work with someone who absolutely knows all about them because the proper abrasive and solutions are critical.

Good luck.