OT - Looking for Plastic Tubing Cutter Recomendations

ndzied1 · Jan 9, 2012

Hi All,

Looking for recommendations for an automatic cutter for plastic tubing. Mostly basic Nylon / Polyurethane / PVC air type tubing.

We have a basic cutter that feeds to length and cuts but the cuts are not very straight or consistent. I think it's basically a glorified cigar cutter with feed bushing and a big solenoid to move the thing.

The squareness (or lack thereof) is the biggest issue we are having right now.

Any recommendations appreciated.

Thanks,

Norm

iant · Jan 9, 2012

Hi Norm,
AS far as automatic cutter - i Presume this is a process line and you want to cut the end square.
- Can the line be stopped/paused
- How often is the cutter doing this task.

most Hand pipe cutters I use are the Festo type with a 90 deg angled cutter into an equil recess.
Something like this on an air cylinder would do.
But you would need it manufactured

ndzied1 · Jan 9, 2012

We don't need something inline. Something more on the lines of this:
http://www.schleuniger-na.com/DesktopDefault.aspx/tabid-48/92_read-9349/page-3/

But we don't have experience to know what is good or bad. Only the one cutter we have that is ok for rough work but now we need something that cuts more precisely.

We have had some small run jobs we were cutting by hand turn into large runs of 1000's or 10,000's. It is impracticle to cut this many by hand.

The tubing is plastic. Mostly 3/8" and below in diameter.

iant · Jan 9, 2012

Just thinking - can you post a pic of your current cutter please?

ndzied1 · Jan 9, 2012

Here is a link to what we have:
http://www.automaticwirecutter.com/Auto_CUTTER_III.asp

iant · Jan 9, 2012

it looks cheap and nasty
the cutter is porbably wornout with the qty you do.
I don't have any easier suggestions for you
other than reinventing the wheel.
- you have a device that will measure length.
- remove the cutting blade
- build a Guarded Pneumatic Cutter
- bolt on the cutter at a measured lenght away
- use the systems signal to operate the new cutter

only an idea

ndzied1 · Jan 9, 2012

iant said:
it looks cheap and nasty
the cutter is porbably wornout with the qty you do.

It is relative cheap but it is new. We are just moving into high production and trying it out. It doesn't claim to be a precision cutter like the other one I linked to so I believe it is doing what it advertised.

The problem seems to be on the outlet side of the cutter where the tube is unsupported. Since tubing is being fed off of a roll, it has a set to it. That and the weight make it hang non-perpendicular to the blade during the cut.

I'm going to see if we can add a guide to it tomorrow morning but I'm also interested in reviews of other off the shelf machines if others have used them.

Thanks

Norm

iant · Jan 9, 2012

I understand the even square cut you are after...
but - when i am doing pnuematics - ultimately the first and last cut of the length of pipe is only used once - and can be squared by me.

there must me quality concerns otherwise

ndzied1 · Jan 9, 2012

iant said:
I understand the even square cut you are after...
but - when i am doing pnuematics - ultimately the first and last cut of the length of pipe is only used once - and can be squared by me.

there must me quality concerns otherwise

The tubing is like what you would use for pneumatics but the applications may be medical or for process chemicals.

I think you aren't quite getting the picture of the types of jobs. For instance, Cut 2500 pieces of 5mm PVC tubing each 5 ft long and put a barb fitting in each end. Each cut must be square so the tubing butts nicely against the flange on the fitting.

Or, cut 45000 pieces of Polyurethane tubing 8" long and chamfer one end of each piece. The cut must be square so the chamfer can be made easily and the other end square so the end customer can put their fitting in place properly.

iant · Jan 9, 2012

thanks for that - I wasn't sure whether it was tube MFG or Part MFG.

obviously with part MFG it is ultimately important - or you get a huge amount of waist production.

rdrast · Jan 10, 2012

If you need absolute square and accuracy, I'd be looking at a metal tubing cutter with a rotating cut blade rather then a typical shear..
ASG makes several that should meet your needs, but they won't be inexpensive. For fully auto, I'd look at the 700L. I don't know exactly what you are cutting, but those machines can handle most everything from flexible PVC to some very hard clad tubing; they are designed for medical work.

Donvw · Jan 13, 2012

Have you checked out Eubanks www.eubanks.com

ndzied1 · Jan 13, 2012

Thanks for the link.

Had the Schleuniger guy in this week for a quick look and we'll get to play with their 3200 machine for a day on Monday. It looks nice and comparable to the eubanks. Cant hurt to have a look at them as well.

Thanks,

BTalbot · Jan 13, 2012

These are typically downstream of an extruder but...?
http://www.versamachinery.com/versa_cutters.html

OT - Looking for Plastic Tubing Cutter Recomendations

ndzied1

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iant

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