TPT May 2007

Technology Update

Specialist in tube and pipe identification

InfoSight Corporation, USA, is a leading worldwide supplier of tube and pipe identi- fication equipment. The company offers several different identification technologies to the tube and pipe industry. The company offers a range of weigh, measure and stencil (WMS) equipment. WMS equipment is custom-designed for the customer’s application in order to perform a range of operations on tubes. These include weight measurement, length measurement, colour banding, stencil marking, and stamp marking. WMS systems can capture length and weight automatically and mark tubes with the required in-plant or customer message data including weight and length. Length range tolerance and weight tolerance checking are automatically performed,

with reject pipes automatically marked accordingly. These systems can be supplied in varying designs from simple in-line to lateral transfer walking beam. Stencil Jibs are custom-designed to perform stencil marking on moving tubes in the customer’s conveyor or on static tubes in the customer’s tube station. InfoSight can supply the standard I-Dent ® marking technology or third party ink jet or drop-on-demand markers per customer’s preference. In addition, the company provide Infodent ® Stamper Jibs that are custom designed to perform dot matrix indentation stamp marking on static tubes in the customer’s tube station. Colourband Jibs are also available, and designed to perform sprayed colourband marking on tubes in the customer’s spin roll station.

Marking of text and special binary bar codes on the tube OD is applied by I-Dent ® dot matrix stencil technology for automatic in- plant tracking of tubes. InfoSight also offers the Opticode ® bar code reader to read these bar codes from long distances. Both OD and ID laser marking of text, logos and industry-standard bar codes is applied to tube OD or ID using Infomark ® technology – using a CO 2 laser to laser- mark a white paint pattern applied to the tube surface. › Infosight use highly advanced marking technology to place barcodes on tube and pipe Machine parts available in quantities from one to a million Eagle Stainless Tube & Fabrication, USA, is a supplier of off-the-shelf stainless steel products and fabricated stainless steel components. The company offers an entire range of miniature to large precision- machined parts, with diameters from 0.04" to 1.50". Eagle can provide intricate geometrics such as threads, slots, and external/ internal hexes, from an extensive inventory of materials including stainless steel, aluminium, titanium, Monel, Inconel, and brass. Machined parts manufactured by Eagle are suitable for a broad spectrum of aerospace and electronics applications, as well as for implantables, surgical tools, and quick disconnects for the medical industry. The company can manufacture prototype parts using its rapid prototyping system, in quantities as small as one piece. The company also employs a bar-coding system that reports actual run time on customers’ parts. Eagle Stainless Tube & Fabrication Inc – USA Fax : +1 508 520 1954 Email : generalsales@eagletube.com Website : www.eagletube.com InfoSight Corporation – USA Fax : +1 740 642 3777 Email : sales@infosight.com Website : www.infosight.com

Latest cutting systems for auto components Reika, Germany, has delivered another four complete cutting systems for DOM tubes to the largest tube producer in central America. The machines are to be installed in the customer’s value-added production centres for tubular automotive components.

The lines are of the new ‘Compact’ series, with high performance outputs for automotive suppliers, and tube-machining cells consisting of a rotary cut-off unit and a chamfering/facing unit. The rotary cutting heads can either be equipped with standard carbide inserts or with chip-less cutting disks, reducing the tool cost per piece.

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No energy-intensive washing and drying operations are necessary

due to the clean and dry cutting process

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As the cutting operation is dry, the parted tubes can easily be transferred into the facing and chamfering unit. Subsequent measuring stations for length, roundness, straightness or customer-specific measuring applications can be integrated with SPC-capability and evaluation. The energy consumption of the new lines is low, as no energy-intensive washing and drying operations are necessary due to the clean and dry cutting process.

Multi-machine operation can be achieved because of the automatic packaging systems on the exit side of the machines. The gantry-type packaging systems are integrated in the machine controls and can be easily programmed according to the necessary box size and the required packaging pattern. The market for hot rolled tubes is booming, in particular for OCTG applications, and

› Reika’s ‘Compact’ series of tube-machining cells

Reika has reported high demand for its new machines and turnkey lines for straightening, cutting and bevelling. The company will participate in September’s International Tube Ukraine Conference in Dnipropetrovsk, where it will present new developments in tube finishing lines for seamless pipes.

Reika GmbH & Co KG – Germany Fax : +49 2331 969 036 • Email : info@reika.de • Website : www.reika.de

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M ay /J une 2007