October 2012 Tube Products International
39
products & developments
Tight
tolerance
tubing
Small diameter, high precision, seamless
tubes must begin as high precision tube
hollows. The demand for tight tolerance,
uniform wall tubing is understood by
Tube Hollows International (THI), a
provider of deep hole drilling services
that have been utilised by the tube
reducing, tube producing and tube
providing industries for over 50 years.
THI’s proprietary drilling process
allows for ID, OD and wall tolerances
custom machined to fit the varied
market requirements of its customers.
The company states that standard off-
the-shelf gundrilling machines cannot
offer this range of tolerances and will
produce a hollow that must be further
machined (OD turning, for example)
to get closer to the spec. Turning to
the hole does not always guarantee a
consistent, favourable outcome, and
there is the additional cost for material
that will be turned into chips.
THI has the capability to drill bars in
mill lengths while maintaining consistent
uniformity of the wall thickness
throughout and to close tolerances. The
company’s borecentric process allows
it to recondition drilled or extruded
hollows to improve size, wall variation
(concentricity), and ID surface finish.
Tube Hollows International
– USA
THI uses a proprietary drilling process
