Tube Products International March 2015

31 / 76

March 2015 Tube Products International 29
products & developments
TUBES
PIPES
BALL VALVES
PIPE FITTINGS
FLANGES
T: +44 (0) 121 557 9000
F: +44 (0) 121 557 9092
E:
ORDER NOW AT
Minimum order charge
Expensive carriage charges
Early cut off for same day dispatch
COMPETITIVE PRICES
5000+ STOCK ITEMS
25+ YEARS OF EXPERIENCE
BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE
IN THE INDUSTRY
Ultra-small diameter capillary tubing
HandyTube Corporation is the
manufacturer of Xtreme Length™
seamless, stainless steel coil tubing
for diverse industrial, manufacturing
and research industries worldwide. The
company has developed a product to
support industries, such as healthcare
and life sciences, that require very
small diameter, extremely precise
characteristics.
USDTM ultra-small diameter capillary
tubing is manufactured to the highest
quality standards and undergoes
several cleaning processes to ensure
consistent, reliable performance. The
capillary tubing reaches inside diameters
as small as 0.076mm (0.003"), and
coil lengths as long as 900m (3,000ft).
Unique processes and equipment
were designed, tested and re-tested to
overcome the manufacturing pitfalls.
The tube manufacturing consists of
three distinct operations: drawing, to
reduce the tube dimensions; cleaning,
to remove drawing lubricants; and heat
treatment, to reset the mechanical
properties and prepare the tube for
re-drawing. It is important that the tube
is properly lubricated before the drawing
process to promote smooth, defect-free
surfaces.
Themost challenging issue in developing
USD capillary tubing was effectively
cleaning stainless steel coil tubing in
very long lengths with such small inner
diameters. As length increases and
inside diameter decreases, the pressure
needed to push any medium through the
coil tubing increases dramatically. As a
result, standard cleaning methods and
equipment proved ineffective in cleaning
the USD high precision products.
HandyTube developed custom
equipment to flush tubing at pressures
upwards of 12,000 psi (827 bar). A
solvent is used to remove drawing
lubricants and foreign debris from the
tubing. This specialised equipment
allows HandyTube to process tubing
in long coils, reducing setup time and
increasing machine uptime.
As a comparison, to clean 3,000m
of 6m-long traditional straight tubes,
500 tubes would need to be flushed
individually. With proprietary processing
and extremely long lengths, HandyTube
can achieve the same result by flushing
less than five stainless steel coils.
The ability to qualitatively analyse the
cleanliness of each coil allows more
consistent results to be achieved.
HandyTube’s processing also allows the
company to produce and clean in coil
form and then straighten and cut to any
desired length.
HandyTube Corp – USA