High-Speed Cutters for Corrugated Tubing

During March’s PTXPO trade show, Versa Machinery debut high-speed cutters for corrugated tubes used in medical, automotive, and other industrial applications.  Said to be highly accurate and repeatable, systems are available to cut corrugated tubing to 3-in. diam.  Units can be programmed to detect the cuff and then cut to desired length, with up to 1000 cuts/min. (smooth tube mode).  Two cuts per cuff are possible, as are cuff skips.  Allows up to 16 unique parts in a string, with repeats of each parts as often as needed. 

Corrugated pitch programming allows for a wide range of products.  User friendly set-up and operation, with a 10-in. color touch screen operator interface.  Stores up to 50 recipes for instant recall, with optional compact card storage for backup of data. Versatile operation performs cuff detection or operates in smooth tubing mode to produce parts kits. 

Material is fed through a pair of closely spaced, close-fitting bushings to ensure maximum product support.  A high-speed electric eye locates the end of each selected cuff, and then programming determines where the cut is placed in relation to the cuff.  Precision cutting is performed by a high-speed (up to 1700 rpm), razor sharp knife. Many knife designs are available in materials to suit most cutting applications. A high-resolution encoder measures the specified distance to the cut location, allowing the system to hold cut length tolerances to ±0.020-in. in many applications.  

Cuffs requiring cuts are selected by entering a length that is slightly less than the distance to the cuff.  The eye ignores cuffs within that length, allowing it to skip over them as needed.  

With the ability to enter lengths for multiple parts and repeat each part as many times as needed, the system can perform kit cutting of smooth tubing, producing a series of parts of different lengths for packaging as a kit.  

The control requires custom bushings for the high-speed electric eye sensor.  The cutter is controlled by a simple “cut” output signal, allowing the control to be used with virtually any high-speed cutter with accurate, repeatable control of knife activation and park position.

The quiet, reliable, servo design eliminates most wear parts.  Safety interlocks on knife guard, cutter cover, and cutter bushings ensure safe operations.  Each system includes a low-inertia knife holder and knife cap. Cutting systems are available to suit particular application requirements, including servo controlled, or electro-mechanical brake and clutch controlled, depending upon diameter of tubing, cut capacity desired, and accuracy/repeatability.