Fastest way to cut pipe?

By yojimbo (***)

Date 12-21-2013 01:48

Metarinka-

Worked in a shop in Redding Ca. that tried beveling process pipe with a plasma cutter on a Mathey Dearman adapted beveler. The slag clean up wasn't worth the effort. I am wondering how a water jet operated might work. I have recieved very competitive quotes, compared to laser cutting operators, but it was on A588 1/4" plate. If you contacted some local waterjet guys with the ongoing size of your production, ahdunno, maybe. I've never looked into waterjet for SS don't really know if it's feasalble. Worth checkng especially if the cuts are 90 degrees which is obviously what a bandsaw would give you for bevel.

Let us know if that works. I'd like to have a reference of cost for future work.

By Metarinka (****)

Date 12-23-2013 17:19

we actually own 3 Waterjets, including a 6 axis machine that can do pipe. Cut speed on an ABJ is a function of thickness, around 0.25" SS cut speed is about 1-3" IPM for a 6" pipe that's 15 minutes! ABJ and fast usually aren't in the same sentence unless it's carpet, wood, rubber or some plastics. A good rule of thumb for ABJ is around $30/hr to run the machine.

By Cactusthewelder (*****)

Date 12-21-2013 03:22 Edited 12-21-2013 03:25

I would look at a "Bundleing"Type of Band Saw. I used to work for a Company named HydMech Band Saws. We made Saws in which you could Put an entire Bundle of pipe on the Table, Program the desired Length and it would cut the entire bundle and feed itself automatically.

http://www.hydmech.com/

By Metarinka (****)

Date 12-23-2013 18:12

Thanks I'll give them a call. I have a CNC plasma setup, it works quite well but hardens the cut and leaves slag that requires a grinding op

By WeldinFool (**)

Date 12-23-2013 20:46

We have a HydMech saw in our shop, they are very well made and perform nicely. We cut many different types of material with it, including pipe and square tube in bundles. We have found it best when cutting bundles to actually tack weld them together on the tail end, this makes the auto-feed process much more reliable. Good luck!

By Stringer (***)

Date 12-24-2013 21:20

Thermal cuts are fast but as mentioned require post cut cleanup. Forget the waterjet. A heavy liquid cooled bandsaw is probably the way to go but I've always wondered if those really big and heavy back and forth saws might be better once you're into heavy-wall pipe.

By cmays

Date 12-27-2013 20:27

What type of bandsaw are you using? The one I have is a Cosen cnc bandsaw usually runs about half that cut time on that material and bar feeds up to 12" material. With the right pressure, speed and feed rate our blades usually can run close to a thousand cuts if not more. Stay away from the hydmechs or any saw that runs off air pressure return because they tend to lock up and you have to self prime the air cylinder. Hydraulic is the way to go on a band saw. For our beveling the pipe goes from our cnc saw to a hollow spindle lathe we square up and bevel quick and with no heat affecting the stainless. The saw ran about 25-30k and if 6" is all your running find you a good engine lathe. Just a thought.

By fschweighardt (***)

Date 12-25-2013 06:14

Tube processing laser would make those in a few seconds, I have several customers that could do these no problem

By CWI555

Date 12-25-2013 14:25

Agreed. Laser would make short work of it. However, for stainless, it's still thermally cutting it. A nitrogen assist purge would be necessary.

By Metarinka (****)

Date 12-27-2013 17:06

Thanks I should look into it, sometimes we are picky about what work to outsource, but if the price per cut was reasonable it might make more sense for someone else to cut them. We have about 8 thousand feet of pipe to cut, and a few thousand cuts, we go through band saw blades quite frequently.